The MTA shelled out a record mind-boggling $1.5 billion in taxpayer money on worker overtime last year — but agency chief Janno Lieber said Tuesday that the figure made him “proud.’’
The overtime tab was the largest in the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s 60‑year history, and marked roughly a 27% jump from the $1.36 billion spent in 2024, according to agency financial documents.
“I just want to emphasize, we’re going to always be proud of overtime that suggests we’re getting the work on the weekends and nights done, rather than criticizing,” Lieber told Albany lawmakers during a budget hearing.
Upstate Assemblyman Brian Miller had asked the transit chief if he had any “concern” about the steep jump in OT spending, but Lieber spun the surge as a sign of productivity, rather than a problem.
Lieber told lawmakers the growth in overtime was driven by “regular wage increases,” though the bill came in at more than $300 million over what the agency had budgeted. He repeatedly tried to link the unplanned spending to construction and maintenance.
“People talk about one big number,” Lieber said. “The trends in overtime at MTA are favorable, and a lot of it is attributable to the fact that we are getting more capital work done, which is what you want us to.”
Internal MTA finance reports throughout 2025 flagged overtime costs as “unfavorable” — or snowballing over the agency’s projections — even in months when overall operating expenses met or were under planned expenses.
Lieber, who oversees roughly 72,000 employees at the MTA, suggested management and labor rules were at the heart of the overtime issue.
“We need your help to rationalize the work rules, and that means helping us to have good discussions with our union friends,” Lieber told lawmakers.
“If we had, I think, a more effective managerial response, so over time we got rid of some of the work rules that automatically give people overtime, I think we can make some progress on the issue raised,” he said, proposing that employees should not collect overtime in weeks when they use sick time.
Pressed on whether the MTA was “chronically understaffed,” Lieber argued current vacancies reflected “normal rotation.”
“People retire, they leave for other jobs. We are not chronically understaffed,” he said.
The MTA spent roughly $1.35 billion on overtime in 2023, according to the agency’s internal documents.
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