NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — The MTA Police Department’s overtime spending jumped nearly 21% over the last year after former Gov. Andrew Cuomo directed officers to tackle several special projects in the subway system, according to the MTA Inspector General.
Between 2020 and 2021, MTA police officers were ordered to tackle homeless outreach services, efforts to reduce fare evasion and maintain an orderly overnight shutdown of the subway system amid the coronavirus pandemic, MTA IG Carolyn Pokorny said.
During those special projects, the MTAPD’s overtime expenditures grew from $27.5 million to $33.3 million.
Pokorny noted that a large reason for the increase in overtime spending was the MTAPD’s lack of preparedness for the special projects.
She added that actual costs were also not tracked as the projects continued.
“Transparency is the cornerstone of public trust,” said Pokorny. “When future special projects arise, the MTA Police Department can help themselves, and MTA stakeholders by accurately tracking and reporting project costs.”
The MTA IG’s investigation into the MTAPD’s overtime spending began after the agency’s board members voiced concerns about an increase in payroll costs.
During the investigation, the OIG found that the special projects required the MTAPD to “deploy additional resources.”
“As these special projects often required the immediate deployment of officers to respond to emergent concerns, coverage was done mainly on an overtime basis until 2020, when new officers were hired and trained,” Pokorny said in her report. “However, OIG found that MTAPD does not track the cost of time paid at an officer’s regular rate, just for the time paid at overtime rates.”
The MTAPD reported spending $19.1 million to implement the special projects – however, that represents only overtime costs.
Pokorny’s office estimated that the special projects actually cost the MTAPD an additional $12.5 million in regular pay – for a total cost of $31.6 million.
The MTA IG has issued two recommendations to rectify this situation for future projects, which MTAPD has already accepted.
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