Legislator Earl Deeply Concerned About Under-Budgeted Transportation Funds

Rockland County Legislator Toney L. Earl (D - Spring Valley) expressed his concerns after discovering that over $300,000 in state transportation revenue has been under-budgeted, according to the administration’s budget documents. Legislator Earl made the discovery after reviewing the county’s transportation budget to verify County Executive Day’s claims about a lack of funding to cover the cost of bus washing for public transportation.

In 2014, New York State budgeted $3,110,600 for Rockland County as part of its MTOA (Mass Transit Operating Assistance) program to fund Rockland’s bus system. However, the administration’s budget falsely under-budgets that revenue, and states that only $2,800,000 of those funds will be received to cover Rockland County’s transportation expenses, including bus washing. The budget documents do not include any information on where the remainder of those funds might be going. State MTOA funds are restricted to transportation use only; any other use of those funds is illegal.

“I am deeply concerned that $310,600 in state taxpayer funds are missing from our budgeted transportation revenues, and I want to know what the administration is planning on using the actual revenues for,” said Legislator Earl. “These false revenue projections raise a lot of questions about the handling of county finances by this administration, as well as the repeated statements by the County Executive that there is no money to cover the costs of bus washing. Clearly, if there is no money, it is because the money is being misappropriated.”

Bus companies around the region and the state utilize these state transportation funds to cover operating costs, which include bus washing costs. According to a New York State transportation report, daily bus washing is an industry standard that public transportation systems adhere to.

“As a former transportation official, I am intimately familiar with the policies and finances of public transportation. It is clear to me that there has been inappropriate action taken with regard to state transportation funds, and that is why Rockland County is not meeting the industry standard of daily bus washing,” Legislator Earl stated. “State funding is utilized appropriately for daily bus washing and transportation expenses everywhere else except Rockland. It is my hope that the administration will explain themselves, stop circumventing the legislative budget process, and utilize state taxpayer funds for their intended purposes.”