Blakeman slams Hochul, MTA boss Lieber money for soaring spending and alleged mismanagement at transit agency

Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman railed against rival Gov.Kathy Hochul for soaring MTA spending — but he stood by the “hardworking people” in the transit agency labor unions after a Post report on soaring overtime spending.Blakeman, who is serving as the elected Nassau County executive, said the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s forecasted budget gaps — estimated at $295 million in 2027 and $507 million in 2028 – should be blamed on Hochul and her MTA boss Janno Lieber’s management and unchecked spending.“We don’t have a revenue problem.

We’ve got a spending problem,” Blakeman told reporters at a press conference in Penn Station Wednesday, where he rode in on the Long Island Rail Road.“And what Kathy Hochul has done is she’s blaming the hardworking people who work for the MTA who do an excellent job,” he claimed.A Post report on Wednesday showed that the transit agency is on track to blow past its 2025 overtime record of nearly $1.5 billion this year — having already spent $764 million year to date on OT, or $176 million over its budgeted allotment.The report said nearly 1,000 MTA workers raked in more overtime in 2025 than their entire base salaries.Blakeman has stood by the high-earning LIRR union workers when they went on strike in May of this year — despite being offered a generous 4.5% raise to their already lucrative six-figure salaries averaging $136,000 per year.The salaries don’t include OT.“It’s just like the state government,” Blakeman said.

“They keep taking more and more money from people, from taxpayers, from people who pay the fares, and from electric bills.”The MTA faces financial risks with ongoing contract negotiations for union workers and rampant fare evasion — with paid weekday train riders declining 8.1% to 1.2 million since January 2025.Paid bus riders have also declined 7.7% year over year since June 2025, according to recently released figures.The bleak future financial ...