The MBTA SCAM is lengthy...requires addressing separately.
The SILVER LINE IS FREE!
Another Big Dig Brain Fart!
Service expected to expand to genuflect to GE, the NO TAX COMPANY that contaminated the Housatonic River - the Grand Massachusetts Taxpayer SCAM.
Closet Tea Bagger Baker got his wishes as he sat idly by and allowed Boston to FAIL in the SNOW! Strange how Dukakis survived the Blizzard!
Charlie has folks SHOVELING THE TRACKS!
Duh?
Sorry Charlie! It happened on your watch!
For far too many years, PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION has been an ORPHAN!
Let's be reminded of the Wealthy White Brain Fart of the Boston Olympics and that it seems no elected officials take PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION.
If they did, they would know PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION SUCKS!
EACH AND EVERY STATE OFFICIAL AND STATE EMPLOYEE SHOULD BE MANDATED TO TAKE PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION!
Has Tea Bagger Baker ever taken PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION?
Boston Mayor Marty Walsh publicly stated he couldn't because he had to make it on time to meetings.
Duh?
Mayor, Doesn't that tell you it SUCKS?
If you can plan your schedule around PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION, it doesn't work!
FARE HIKES and CUTS IN LATE NIGHT SERVICE penalize low income folks who use PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION.
This is a WHITE ATTACK ON THE POOR!
How many of these HACKS are taking PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION?
It should be MANDATED!
This is NOT about crunching numbers. It's about providing a PUBLIC SERVICE!
KPMG is not without its controversy.
Another $80 million debt for MBTA
Audit reveals agency has been paying deferred comp to retired managers without funding
Shawn Warren, an auditor for KPMG, which did a year-end review of the T’s books for fiscal 2015, could not say how long the plan has been in place, how much money is owed, or even how many managers are eligible for the added pay.
“The rules are very convoluted and very intimate, which makes the administration of this very tough,” he said. “The funding level is zero. There is no funding set aside. Because there are no assets, there is nothing to audit.”
The revelation came toward the end of a lengthy joint meeting of the board of directors of the Department of Transportation and the MBTA’s Fiscal and Management Control Board, with members saying they were under the impression the program, which is labeled deferred compensation, had been funded over the years through regular set-asides.
“So this is ‘pay as you go,’” said Steve Poftak, a member of the DOT board of directors as well as the control board. “Not only is nothing going into the fund, we’re actually donating… You’re essentially stealing from the future here.”
DOT board member Russell Gittlen, a union representative, said the fault lies with the transit authority. “We negotiated this thing with the T,” he said. “That should have been kept up to a respectable level.”
Brian Lang, a member of the T’s oversight board, said, “We didn’t have our arms around the full liability.”
Transportation Secretary Stephanie Pollack said the issue is the way the T operates, as a hybrid that is an independent authority but receiving a large chunk of taxpayer money to run.
“Commitments were made and there was never actually any agreement on the part of the taxpayers,” she said. “We need to find a way to make it live up to obligations that were made. It’s too easy to spend someone else’s money.”
Under questioning by the board members, Warren, interim Chief Financial Officer
Michael Abramo, and MBTA Chief 
Administrator Brian Shortsleeve said the plan was part of the agreement with unions to lure union members into management positions and pay them for overtime they may miss out on. Warren said the money is called deferred compensation as part of the collective bargaining agreement but he said that is a “misnomer.” He said the agreement is more akin to a pension plan.
Administrator Brian Shortsleeve said the plan was part of the agreement with unions to lure union members into management positions and pay them for overtime they may miss out on. Warren said the money is called deferred compensation as part of the collective bargaining agreement but he said that is a “misnomer.” He said the agreement is more akin to a pension plan.
According to Warren, about $6 million is being paid annually to roughly 900 qualified management retirees under the agreement. Warren said the $80 million is part of more than $911 million the T has in unfunded liabilities for retirement accounts, including $811 million for the private MBTA Retirement Trust Fund and roughly $21 million for the MBTA police retirement fund.
“This plan is a defined benefit plan,” Warren said. “It has nothing to do with compensation, nothing to do with deferred compensation. It is, in essence, a pension plan. If you are an executive [who comes under this plan], you are entitled to receive a monthly check.”
Poftak and others recommended folding the compensation into current paychecks, but Shortsleeve pointed out that it’s part of the collective bargaining agreement and would have to be dealt with through that process.
Outside the meeting, union officials made it a point to say the money was going to management, mindful of the backlash union members have received over six-figure salaries inflated by overtime. James O’Brien, president of the Carmen’s Union who serves on the MBTA pension fund board, said the managers who qualified for the extra retirement benefit also were given compensation days while they worked at the T for those extra hours.
“They get deferred comp later on in their life when they left and they also got the time off earlier in the year, too,” said O’Brien. “That’s an important factor that needs to get out there. This was for executives only.”
Earlier in the meeting, board members heard an update on the progress of the bloated Green Line extension, which has been taken off the board while officials attempt to redesign the project and cut the pricetag from an astronomical $3 billion back to under $2 billion, with the cost split between the state and federal governments.
Jack Wright, the interim project manager, laid out a schedule for benchmarks with hopes to have a design and scope on the scaled-back project by May 11 and painted an optimistic picture of the project and his belief that the line can move forward within the tight fiscal restraints.
But Joseph Aiello, chairman of the control board, said the scaling back would have to be more than simple pruning of excess design and creature comforts to meet the budget expectations. He said he expects the state will have to ask for contributions from affected communities and the design cannot be opulent.
“The cutbacks in scope really need to be on the side of brutal,” said Aiello. “This has to be a bare-minimum system in order to get to a point financially where we’re making a minimum ask to third parties because the state’s tapped.”
Some board members pointed out, in the rush to move forward, the timelines had dates that showed start dates preceding end dates or did not allow sufficient time to accomplish what was needed, such as negotiating a Memorandum of Understanding with Cambridge and Somerville.
“Having a start date four days before an end date for an MOU probably isn’t feasible,” said Lisa Calise, a member of the control board.
Wright apologized for the “obviously misinformation” and said he hadn’t caught the errors. Outside the meeting, in talking with reporters, he passed off the mistakes as “typos.”
Meet the Author
“I don’t think the typos have anything to do with anything material on the project,” he said. “The typos come from my focusing on the completion dates and not looking at the start dates.”
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