Reader responses

The following are responses received from readers of "MTA Bill for Police Overtime- Lieutenant Paid Over $200K, Officer Wu Triples His Salary." They are published in order of receipt.  If you want to add your sentiments, e-mail StarQuest@nycivic.org. We have used initials; if you would either prefer us to use your full name, or to write anonymously, let us know.


1   Tuesday, December 14, 2004 5:32 PM

You may wish to write (and probably already have) about the fact that the increase in pension and other benefit payments to retirees is a huge sock on not only MTA spending but City spending was well.

Best regards,
Cinder

(Of course also shocked, shocked, shocked over the co-op board’s behavior with the hawks; It’s enough to make one want to advocate for the abolishment of co-ops…)


2   Tuesday, December 14, 2004 6:18 PM

I’ve been a New Yorker only since 1978.  but I recall this headline about every 5 years or so since then.

The problem with this is, as you have illuminated so well in other missives, is that Koch, Dinkins, Giuliani, Bloomberg, or even Pataki, Cuomo, et. al. get no “extra credit” points for taking a strike by the TWU. (or the UFT, or PBA, or firefighter union, sanitation and on and on.)

The benefit of taking a strike to fix this inclusion of overtime in the retirement calculations would benefit future administrations, not the current one. (why hand your potential opponents such gravy?)  The only thing the current one would get is a black eye.  I just don’t see how we can ever fix this.  The unions know this, and that is why they were able to get it in the first place, the cost to the “giving” administration was virtually zero to give it to them in the first place.

Whereas, it seems, if this were GE for example, the chairman/president is in it for as long a haul as he can get, and is not subject to a popularity contest every four years.  He can show his board of directors that taking the strike will save $XX over 10 years. Bloomberg or Pataki don’t have 10 years.

What we need is some kind of genius who can figure out how to satisfy the union, the public, and the politicians all at the same time.  I don’t see it. Sad, but, oh so true.

I think Koch and Giuliani had a bit of this in them for a few months of each’s first administration, but the folly of getting someone else’s future budget headaches fixed in real time some became apparent to them as well.

I am hoping that one day someone as astute as yourself could tell us how to do it.

E.L.


3   Wednesday, December 15, 2004 12:31 AM

There is always a great deal of media and public appall, when police officers and firefighters make a significant amount of money in overtime.  It would appear that these fat cats are raking it in on the city dime.  What is not considered is that these individuals worked an incredible number of extra hours. Time away from their family.  They did not get something for nothing.  I am not commenting on the MTA in particular, it sounds like they have an number of poor managerial issues, but on the reality of overtime and the salaried worker in general. No one is appalled that the aristocratic politicians make incredible sums of money through backroom deals and inside information that by any ethical stretch would be considered wrong.  And these same politicians reap unbelievable benefits that last a lifetime including medical insurance and pensions.  In my opinion some police officer working 100 hours a week has every right to make as much as is available.  The politicians who claim  to have the public interest in mind when they broker lucrative contracts with fat cat donors is a far greater crime.
M.S.


4   Wednesday, December 15, 2004 2:51 AM

And I stand shivering on the corner w-a-i-t-i-n-g for a bus that oftensports a sign: "out of service"!! as it sails past, even though it is carrying passengers. What IS that all about?!
M.R.


5   Wednesday, December 15, 2004 5:58 AM

Basing one's pension on the amount of final salaries is a way of rewarding good service.  Not every retiring employee gets the mentioned benefit.  It is a "back door" bonus and an incentive for good job performance.  (I used to work for the Manhattan and Bronx Surface Transit Authority.)
M.J.


6   Wednesday, December 15, 2004 8:31 AM

While better management is needed the real problem is the lack of committment to the system by the general public and its elected leaders. They comlpain about tolls being used to subsidize the fare and yet fight any attempt to  fund the system with other funds.  The recent rejection of real estate tax increases to help pay for the system is an example.  The fact that NYS has the lowest energy per person use in the US is mostly attributed to the mass transit sytem and the reduced use of inefficient cars.  We need to look more closely into the European system of funding.  Gasoline is over $5 per gallon because it is taxed to provide transit sytem subsidies.  If we did the same the options for travel would increase, air would be cleaner and our energy usage would be less.  Where would all the riders go if the system fails.
R.A


7   Wednesday, December 15, 2004 9:12 AM

Do you know how I can get a job with the MTA ?
S.C.D.


8   Wednesday, December 15, 2004 9:22 AM

Three cheers for your getting the word out about the insane way in which the MTA manages and compensates its employees.
 
Perhaps Mayor Bloomberg and Governor Pataki will stop dancing around and bring the MTA management into the 21st century where many of us have learned to do more with less, and  work harder and smarter with pension programs that do not include overtime computations.

T.I.


9   Wednesday, December 15, 2004 9:50 AM

So what is new? It has been going since the beginning of time. It will never end. It is all about the money. When people see an opportunity to make money something happens to a lot of so called honest people. The insiders and clicks make sure they make the money. If you buck the system your on the wrong side according to those who work along side you each day.
J.B.


10   Wednesday, December 15, 2004 10:33 AM

Thank you for an excellent piece on the wasteful and incompetent practices at the MTA. 
 
Kalikow, Bloomberg and Pataki are all silent on this issue for unsavory political reasons.  The last thing they really want is responsibility for the MTA.  The appointment authority of the Governor, legislature and Mayor is a copout.
 
Barry Feinstein and other union advocates on the MTA board really control MTA operations.  Some years ago, Richard Ravitch attempted to talk about real reform.  The consequences were very bad, and at some point he needed bodyguards.
 
For all NYC elected officials to tolerate this kind of intimidation is a disgrace to our so called democratic system.
 
There is redundancy in service between buses and subways, both within Manhattan and to the outer boroughs.  Discussion of this issue has been stifled, perhaps in the interests of peace with the powerful TWU.
 
Only minor improvements have been made through the capital budget, although the expenditures were enormous.  Controller Hevesi recently exposed some of the waste in the expense budget, but as your heading states, it's the tip of the iceberg.
 
B.N.


11   Wednesday, December 15, 2004 10:46 AM

What's never mentioned in relation to these scandalous situations is the embedded flaw in the NYC system, i.e., that pensions are based on total salaries rather than base salaries.  This formula is a formula for corruption and outrageous taxpayer costs.
 
John Waldman


12   Wednesday, December 15, 2004 11:01 AM

Ah, the ghost of Mike Quill still flutters around the haunting spectre of a continuously unaccountable MTA!
 
Thanks for addressing what for me is a pet peeve; the mismanagement of public authorities in the State of New York.
 
Ed (Woodieo) Ryder IV


13   Wednesday, December 15, 2004 10:59 AM

I read your article on police overtime very carefully.  I am interested because overtime is a big issue at the Board of Elections.  I assume that you experienced the same problems at the Parks Department.

The City budget forces substantial overtime at the Board of Elections because of the cyclical nature of the work.  There are very busy periods with very short statutory deadlines that occur in processing nominating petitions, setting up voting machines, inputting last minute voter registrations, processing absentee ballot requests and certifying the results of elections.  No matter how much preliminary preparation there is, either there will be substantial overtime or it would be necessary to bring in even more temporary workers. (Adequate training is always a problem with temps.)  Indeed, Board of Elections employees are prohibited from taking vacations between July 15 and November 30. (One way to dig for “scandals” is to get the list of those who do manage to get vacation-time during the blackout period!)  Another major factor is that the base-pay salary structure at the Board of Elections is significantly less than what any reasonable person would think is appropriate to compensate the individuals involved.  Overtime becomes a backdoor method to make up that compensation.  When I review the list of overtime at the Board of Elections, it generally makes sense, although it can also be alarming to see some individuals earning much more than the executive director and senior managers—who are not eligible for overtime.   Some people are alarmed when they see our best computer programmers, who work 60-hour weeks, earning $150,000 per year because of all of the overtime.  But, that is what private industry would pay a hard-working technician with those skills.  On the other side of the ledger, the City Council has consistently rejected budget requests for additional computer technicians.  (I should add that computer technicians are one of the few categories of Board of Elections employees who are chosen without any political recommendations.)

So to the MTA:  Isn’t the real issue how much overtime could be avoided by better planning and better scheduling.  Overtime for the best detectives may be a real bargain to the City.  It may also be unavoidable in view of the problems of scheduling at the courthouses.  The tone of the article seems to assume that there are more efficient ways to handle the issue without actually examining who is getting the overtime and why.  You are right that filling in for non-essential absentees is a waste.  (I understand that is a big problem in the Fire Department where companies are required to have a minimum crew, but spend most of their time waiting for calls.) Perhaps most of the work at Parks could be shifted or postponed to avoid overtime.  But if a police officer makes an arrest at the end of his shift, do we want to release the suspect to avoid the overtime? 

I believe the best solution is to analyze carefully the reasons for overtime.  I certainly agree with your recommendations to make use of overtime as efficient as possible.  On the other hand, I believe it is just as important to look at overtime as part of the budget that should be on the table in collective bargaining negotiations.  If the City is paying too much in overtime, then it should make that part of the bargaining.  I understand that OLR did this in negotiating with the fire fighters and it appears to have been making some inroads.  (e.g., “excessive” absenteeism gives triggers reduction in the size of fire companies).

Certainly we should hold Governor Pataki and Mayor Bloomberg accountable for what happens at the MTA.  But I am afraid that focusing on overtime may just be a cheap shot.

D.K.