yes. yes

Comptroller Thompson has done an admirable job focusing attention on the fiscal situation in the MTA. I will continue this charge and furthermore, I plan to transform the office of Comptroller into one that actively speaks the truth about our City’s financial situation and holds policy makers – at every level of government – accountable. Beyond merely providing statistical reports or analysis, I will seek to be an independent voice for taxpayers. It is inexcusable for critical funds to be misallocated or short-changed and I will call on Albany and Washington DC as well as the City leaders to rectify these problems.

In addition to this, I would advocate and support policies like congestion pricing and other such potential revenue streams as mentioned above.

Finally, conducting a thorough examination of the fiscal management of MTA is crucial and the newly created Division of Accountability and Results will set this forth as a priority. By eliminating harmful spending practices and re-evaluating the entire financial structure, we should be able to make drastic improvements that could avoid service cuts and fare increases. The Comptroller’s responsibilities to apply auditing oversight are paramount to this effort.

Not only would I do monthly reports but I would also not hesitate to initiate litigation against the State to ensure fair and full funding is received by our City.

As chairperson of the Transportation Committee, I have conducted vigorous oversight over the MTA, particularly its finances. It was through these hearings that I discovered that the MTA had 2 sets of books costing the taxpayers of millions of dollars. I would continue to conduct regular audits of MTA finances and highlight any inequities in City and State funding of the MTA. I want full transparency of how and where every dollar is spent.

I would also conduct audits on the way that the MTA uses the money that it has been allocated. The MTA has a reputation of funding projects that go over budget or are failures. One of these wasteful projects was the MTA’s attempt to track its buses. The MTA has been working on it for over ten years and has spent millions of dollars and still cannot track buses. Another project is the MTA’s plan to install an artificial intelligence camera system on the subways that would be able to detect suspicious activity. Hundreds of millions of dollars later, the vendor that won the contract, Lockheed, is suing the MTA and the MTA has held Lockheed in breach of the contract but no system is in place. The MTA has to spend our taxpayer money more wisely.