News flash: Retirees expect retirement benefits
Despite touting early retirement as a cost-savings measure, MBTA management failed to budget for those retirement costs according to the State House News Service. Former Acting General Manager, Brian Shortsleeve announced that $9 million in retiree payments were not included in the approved FY 2018 budget and further cost-savings would have to be found to make the payments.
This failure to plan for contingency costs when making policy changes is part of a on-going pattern of mismanagement at the T. MBTA management has similarly promised cost-savings from privatization without accounting for the costs of retraining, contract management and the graver cost to the public – a loss of transparency. The full cost of policy changes need to be considered to ensure we are truly making decisions that will make our transit system better for all of us in the long run.
