Acting Chairman Ferrer opened his remarks by expressing his condolences and asked for a moment of silence for the lost lives of three occupants of a vehicle that was struck along the Long Island Rail Road’s right-of-way in Westbury and he expressed his wishes for the speedy recoveries of those who were injured. He announced that Scott Rechler resigned from the Board and thanked him for his service especially as the Chairman of the Construction Costs Working Group. He introduced two new board members: Sarah Feinberg, former Federal Railroad Administration Administrator, and David Mack, real estate executive and former MTA Board Member. Acting Chairman Ferrer stated that the MTA is under significant financial stress and it is projecting an operating budget deficit of almost $500 million next year, growing to nearly $1 billion by 2022. He stated that the fare and toll increases would be voted on, which are critical to the MTA’s efforts to avoid service reductions and other negative consequences, as they would bring in additional revenue of $336 million annually but it is not enough to fund the Capital Program or close the operating deficit. With regard to MTA reform, Acting Chairman Ferrer stated that a company-wide hiring freeze was implemented for all non-essential and non-represented employees; an executive committee was established to ensure that every vacant MTA job is still absolutely necessary before hiring to fill that position; all operating agencies, including MTA headquarters and MTA Capital Construction, have been asked to identify $500 million in annually recurring savings; the MTA is reducing the hourly rates of consultants and vendors by ten percent; and the MTA is working on consolidating back office functions within operations, between Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North in particular, and enterprise-wide.
The details of Acting Chairman Ferrer’s remarks are contained in the video recording of this meeting, produced by the MTA and maintained in MTA records, and the MTA’s and other agencies’ minutes of the meeting of this date.
cited: http://web.mta.info/mta/news/books/pdf/190327_0900_Board.pdf