Wednesday, February 25, 2015
An Interesting Editorial
Today the Gloucester Daily Times published an editorial highlighting a
bill that I and the Senate Republican Caucus filed that would provide key tools
to assist the beleaguered MBTA and commuter rail system. The bipartisan and bicameral bill offered by
the caucus would create a fiscal recovery trust fund which would be funded by a
$25 million loan to meet immediate capital needs, require the Secretary of
Administration and Finance to identify funds to assist the MBTA, and would
create a new seven member MBTA finance control board that could ultimately be
dissolved in favor of a receiver that would take over the board’s
responsibilities as a last resort if sufficient progress hadn’t been made.
The responsibilities of the MBTA finance control board include:
• Securing financial
and performance stability of the MBTA
• Implementing fiscal
controls;
• Implementing
uniform budget and planning guidelines and procedures for all departments;
• Levying fines on vendors who fail to maintain on-time rates, vehicle cleanliness, fare collections, station maintenance, and staff training;
• Executing capital
budgets and borrowing authorizations to finance or refinance any debt;
• Maintaining
authority to appoint, remove, supervise, and control all MBTA employees and
personnel matters;
• Developing a long
range plan for MBTA financial and structural sustainability; and
• Requiring the
filing of a quarterly report to the House and Senate Committees on Ways and
Means detailing how any expended loan funds were used in the past quarter.
The Gloucester Daily Times also mentions that the reform process needs
to be “fast tracked”, and given the importance Cape Ann, the North Shore, and
Greater Boston has on the public transportation system, I agree.
To read today’s editorial, please click here to visit the newspaper’s
website.
