"the Turnpike Authority.... has been paying UBS, the Swiss banking giant, $2 million a month as part of a complex credit transaction"
Related: UBS Makes Out Like Bandits in Massachusetts
And remember these?
The State Budget Swindle
Governor Guts State Services
Pigs at the State Trough
A Slow Saturday Special: Statehouse Slush Fund
Hollywood S***s on Massachusetts
See if you can find where the Globe stuck that infuriating information:
"Turnpike Authority has yet to make layoffs; Agency vowed in September to begin staff cuts" by Noah Bierman, Globe Staff | March 17, 2009
The Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, which pledged in September to begin laying off 100 toll collectors, has yet to fire any workers, even as it gears up for a toll hike later this month to raise money.
Alan LeBovidge, the turnpike's executive director, called the layoff process time-consuming and "onerous" and told lawmakers yesterday that the agency has left 48 positions unfilled over the past year, after workers retired or took voluntary layoffs. That figure includes many workers who left before the September layoff announcement.
LeBovidge said "true layoffs" from the remaining toll-collecting staff of 424 are the next step, but will take six to 12 months because of collective bargaining rules that give senior employees the right to bump newer hires. Even last year, he said the full layoffs would take 12 to 18 months.
"It could be done a lot faster if they could move more efficiently on doing anything," said Robert Cullinane, principal officer of Teamsters Union Local 127, which represents toll takers. "But they can't even move efficiently when they're trying to get rid of people."
Legislators said at a turnpike oversight hearing yesterday that the authority has not considered enough alternatives to the toll increase, which takes effect March 29, and "that drives people absolutely off a cliff." Yesterday's hearing underscored the anxiety many lawmakers are feeling, as constituents barrage them with concerns about the threat of a rise in toll fees, a gas tax increase, or both.
"People woke up one day and read $7 tolls and it made them crazy," said Joseph F. Wagner, a Chicopee Democrat who cochairs the joint transportation committee.
Wagner said the authority should consider reinstating tolls on the West Newton exit, raising commercial tolls in Western Massachusetts, reinstating them for passenger cars in those western exits, and seeking more state money to pay the authority's Big Dig debt. Such alternatives could raise more than $30 million a year, reducing the urgency of a toll increase in Greater Boston and tempering the concerns of commuters who would like to see all options explored before paying higher gas taxes or steeper tolls inside Route 128, he said.
"I've offered up an alternative. I'm not sure that's the road you should move on, but I'm not sure that's a discussion that's been had," Wagner said.
Last fall, the turnpike board discussed reinstating the West Newton toll and the passenger tolls at exits 1 through 6 in Western Massachusetts, which were eliminated in 1996. But Governor Deval Patrick's administration, which had flirted with taking down more tolls, never included those ideas in its transportation plans.
The Turnpike Authority's expenses are legally divided between east and west at Route 128. LeBovidge and Jay Gonzalez, the state's undersecretary for administration and finance, said there are several significant legal and financial obstacles to using money raised in the western area to pay off the debt associated with the road's eastern portion, which includes the Big Dig. They include costly refinancing charges for the agency's debt.
They also said they want to avoid one-time fixes to the Turnpike Authority's problems. They continued to argue that Patrick's current plan to reorganize the state's transportation system, eliminating the Turnpike Authority, would provide a more comprehensive solution. They said any plan must include raising more money for the state's transportation system, still under the weight of Big Dig debt....
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Even if Patrick's plan passes, the Turnpike Authority will still have to deal with risky investments it agreed to earlier this decade to generate quick cash. The turnpike has been paying UBS, the Swiss banking giant, $2 million a month as part of a complex credit transaction. The worldwide credit crunch has left the authority unable to refinance its debt to cancel out those payments.
Cullinane said he signed an agreement with the Turnpike Authority in December to reduce staff by the equivalent of 100 full-time employees within 18 months, offering voluntary layoffs before firing workers. He expects involuntary layoffs to begin in June or July, he said. LeBovidge said he has also eliminated management positions, leaving the authority with 120 fewer employees than it had a year ago. That number includes the toll collector vacancies.
Then EXPLAIN THIS, prick: Turnpike Toll Hikes Going for Manager Bonuses
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