Assemblyman Michael Novakhov (R,C-Brooklyn) joined his Minority colleagues today to call for a full forensic audit of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) to uncover any wasteful spending following years of MTA budgets skyrocketing. The MTA has lost more than $5 billion in unpaid tolls since 2021 and still felt the need to spend $1 million to study the psychology of fare evaders and $8 billion on a flood-resilience project that had two out of 12 gaskets broken. Novakhov is arguing this audit will make it easier to cut waste and save taxpayers money while still ensuring the MTA is the best transit system in the world.

“For far too long the MTA has been allowed to operate with minimal oversight from the state, even though it receives massive amounts of state funding. If we are making these huge investments, we owe it to the people of New York to ensure it is being spent properly. Make no mistake, I still fully support funding the MTA, it is the lifeblood of New York City transit, but I want to make sure it is as efficient as possible, giving taxpayers the best bang for their buck. A full forensic audit will allow us to do just that by seeing where we can cut waste while ensuring the services it provides remain top quality,” said Novakhov.