November 11, 2011
Mr. Joseph Lhota, Chairman
Metropolitan Transportation Authority
347 Madison Avenue
New York, NY 10017
Dear Chairman Lhota:
We are writing to express our outrage at the
recent report titled “Forensic Audit of
Select Payroll and Overtime Practices and
Related Transactions” recently released from
the Office of the New York State
Comptroller. We believe that Metro-North
Railroad and the Metropolitan Transportation
Authority should be more forceful in their
response to this Report. We find it highly
insulting that language was used to infer
fraud, where no fraud exists, and we view
this report as politically motivated to
garner media coverage. Their Executive
Summary parses words like “certain
instances” and “potentially fraudulent” that
“may have been avoidable” all in one
sentence. The fact is there was no fraud
and costs that they call into question were
not avoidable. They effectively allege that
any earnings above base pay are
“fraudulently” earned, classify that as a
“pension enrichment”, and then multiple it
over 25 years to attain a figure that has no
basis in reality. This is ludicrous,
insulting, and misleading. Then again it
gets good headlines. This is as egregious as
Alan Hevisi's report alleging that the MTA
maintained two sets of books. It was untrue,
and we all know how he and that report
turned out.
It is an insult to the hardworking men and
women of the construction crew and the
managers who adhered to the Federal Law
governing the Hours of Service Act. The
report does not explain that the actual cost
of the project is contained because the
signalman's assignment is not back filled
the next day due to the Hours of Service Law
payment. This work was managed the only way
possible and the costs were contained so as
not to affect the riding public and the
taxpayer. We challenge anyone to demonstrate
a better way, both financially and
practically to have accomplished this work
under current collective bargaining
agreements and the Federal Hours of Service
Act.
Both Managers and Agreement Employees are
united in our outrage at this report. To
that end we are requesting that the MTA and
Metro North join us in demanding that the
New York State Attorney General’s Office
investigate the allegations contained in
this audit. We also will seek an audit of
the costs associated with this Audit. The
real waste of taxpayer dollars is the cost
of producing this politically slanted,
inaccurate, unfair, and biased report.
We look forward to working with you and your
staff on the many issues facing us.
Yours truly,
Darren Berger
General Chairman
ACRE Local Division 166
