“Outrageous!” was Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy’s response Tuesday to Gov. Hochul’s plea for a dramatic hike in federal subsidies for the ailing MTA.
“The MTA is running a deficit thanks to NY’s financial mismanagement, and they already receive billions in federal funding,” he scolded the governor on X.
“The federal government is not a blank check.”
MTA’s capital spending plan:
The spending showdown presents a golden opportunity to finally rein in the MTA’s insatiable appetite for uncontrolled spending — if Trump takes up a plan already proposed in Albany.
Trump has made it his goal to vanquish the congestion-pricing program that is punishing commuters with $9 daily fees to drive into Manhattan.
Hochul claims that congestion pricing will fund $15 billion in MTA projects over the next several years, including phase 2 of the Second Avenue subway, subway-station accessibility improvements, electrification of the North Hudson line, and purchase of new LIRR train cars and locomotives.
But that’s just a slice of the record-breaking $64.8 billion five-year capital plan she and the MTA are pursuing, some of which, they hope, will come from Washington.
Trump won’t hand over even a fraction of such largess without something in return — and dropping congestion pricing, already a political anchor for Hochul, should only be part of the deal.
Before any outlay of federal aid, he should get Hochul to place the MTA under a financial control board — like the one that helped save New York City from bankruptcy in the 1970s.
State Sen. Dean Murray (R-Suffolk) has already introduced a bill to impose such a board on the MTA, in response to a proposal from our Center for Cost Effective Government.
What good is a one-shot infusion of aid, however generous, if out-of-control spending makes it obsolete after the first year?
Control boards come with the authority to rescind onerous contract provisions and inefficient rules and regulations that otherwise could only come about through collective bargaining.
They can put the brakes on excessive borrowing, review and approve all expenditures, and take part in labor negotiations.
Control boards have been used to revive ailing cities from Stockton, Calif. to Detroit, Mich. In New York state, Erie and Nassau counties turned to control boards when they were on the precipice of financial collapse.
The MTA is crying out for such oversight.
This is an agency that lost an estimated $690 million in unpaid bus and subway fares alone in 2022 alone, while compensating engineers and conductors $283,000 annually and awarding $10,000-per-month pensions.
More than 1,100 employees doubled their salaries that year as the agency’s overtime bill skyrocketed to nearly $1.3 billion. One MTA employee once racked up $344,000 in annual overtime.
All this inefficiency has led to a budget gap of $2.5 billion — and no end of rider complaints and service delays.
The MTA has proved that it has a spending problem, not a revenue problem.
But without an independent control board to keep a tight leash on its accounts, it won’t be long until state leaders come back to taxpayers, riders and motorists to seek yet more fees and taxes to keep the agency afloat.
However logical, it’s unlikely that the state will establish a control board without substantial federal prodding.
Likewise, the Trump administration will be rightly hesitant to provide more cash without a long-term plan to get a handle on the agency’s spending.
Trump’s opposition to the congestion pricing plan may not survive ongoing court challenges.
But he may be willing to provide a one-shot funding infusion to the struggling MTA in exchange for a long-term plan to streamline the agency and its finances, along with an end to the hated midtown toll.
If so, Duffy can realize his goal of controlling MTA costs, Hochul can receive a revenue lifeline — and beleaguered taxpayers and motorists may finally see some light at the end of the tunnel.
Former Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy is executive director of the Center for Cost Effective Government.
Steve Levy Interview on Long Island Patriot Radio, March 2025
April 4, 2025Steve Levy: The state budget, the politics and the policy
May 29, 2025Read this article on the New York Post
“Outrageous!” was Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy’s response Tuesday to Gov. Hochul’s plea for a dramatic hike in federal subsidies for the ailing MTA.
“The MTA is running a deficit thanks to NY’s financial mismanagement, and they already receive billions in federal funding,” he scolded the governor on X.
“The federal government is not a blank check.”
MTA’s capital spending plan:
The spending showdown presents a golden opportunity to finally rein in the MTA’s insatiable appetite for uncontrolled spending — if Trump takes up a plan already proposed in Albany.
Trump has made it his goal to vanquish the congestion-pricing program that is punishing commuters with $9 daily fees to drive into Manhattan.
Hochul claims that congestion pricing will fund $15 billion in MTA projects over the next several years, including phase 2 of the Second Avenue subway, subway-station accessibility improvements, electrification of the North Hudson line, and purchase of new LIRR train cars and locomotives.
But that’s just a slice of the record-breaking $64.8 billion five-year capital plan she and the MTA are pursuing, some of which, they hope, will come from Washington.
Trump won’t hand over even a fraction of such largess without something in return — and dropping congestion pricing, already a political anchor for Hochul, should only be part of the deal.
Before any outlay of federal aid, he should get Hochul to place the MTA under a financial control board — like the one that helped save New York City from bankruptcy in the 1970s.
State Sen. Dean Murray (R-Suffolk) has already introduced a bill to impose such a board on the MTA, in response to a proposal from our Center for Cost Effective Government.
What good is a one-shot infusion of aid, however generous, if out-of-control spending makes it obsolete after the first year?
Control boards come with the authority to rescind onerous contract provisions and inefficient rules and regulations that otherwise could only come about through collective bargaining.
They can put the brakes on excessive borrowing, review and approve all expenditures, and take part in labor negotiations.
Control boards have been used to revive ailing cities from Stockton, Calif. to Detroit, Mich. In New York state, Erie and Nassau counties turned to control boards when they were on the precipice of financial collapse.
The MTA is crying out for such oversight.
This is an agency that lost an estimated $690 million in unpaid bus and subway fares alone in 2022 alone, while compensating engineers and conductors $283,000 annually and awarding $10,000-per-month pensions.
More than 1,100 employees doubled their salaries that year as the agency’s overtime bill skyrocketed to nearly $1.3 billion. One MTA employee once racked up $344,000 in annual overtime.
All this inefficiency has led to a budget gap of $2.5 billion — and no end of rider complaints and service delays.
The MTA has proved that it has a spending problem, not a revenue problem.
But without an independent control board to keep a tight leash on its accounts, it won’t be long until state leaders come back to taxpayers, riders and motorists to seek yet more fees and taxes to keep the agency afloat.
However logical, it’s unlikely that the state will establish a control board without substantial federal prodding.
Likewise, the Trump administration will be rightly hesitant to provide more cash without a long-term plan to get a handle on the agency’s spending.
Trump’s opposition to the congestion pricing plan may not survive ongoing court challenges.
But he may be willing to provide a one-shot funding infusion to the struggling MTA in exchange for a long-term plan to streamline the agency and its finances, along with an end to the hated midtown toll.
If so, Duffy can realize his goal of controlling MTA costs, Hochul can receive a revenue lifeline — and beleaguered taxpayers and motorists may finally see some light at the end of the tunnel.
Former Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy is executive director of the Center for Cost Effective Government.
Steve Levy
Related posts
Don’t Vote for Those Undoing Pension Reforms
Read more
On the Right Side Podcast – Wednesday, February 25th, 2026
Read more
Steve Levy: How New York’s extremist green policies have caused electric rates to soar
Read more