Of course, "The taxpayers are going to end up paying, one way or another."
As usual in Massachushitts.
"State agencies leaving lease with MBTA at South Station; New landlord, lower rent found in South End" by Casey Ross and Noah Bierman, Globe Staff | April 7, 2009
At a time when the MBTA is asking the state for a financial bailout, three state agencies are adding to its financial woes with plans to move out of the T's property at South Station and pay rent to a private developer.
While the developer is charging the agencies less - an estimated $9.5 million over the next decade - the move will cost the cash-strapped MBTA as much as $6.2 million over just the next two and a half years, as it tries to avoid fare increases and service cuts, according to T documents obtained by the Globe.
The decision to move the Division of Banks, the Division of Insurance, and the Department of Telecommunications and Cable to an office building in the South End raises questions about the level of coordination among state agencies - an area that Governor Deval Patrick has pledged to improve - and seems to ignore the special plight of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority.
Patrick has proposed a 19-cent gas tax increase to buoy the state's transportation system; about a third of that would be used to fix the T's troubled finances.
"This is agencies stealing from each other," said Paul Regan, executive director of the independent MBTA Advisory Board, when told the T is losing tenants. "This is a case where having people move and taking money out of the T's pocket doesn't really save money for anybody. The taxpayers are going to end up paying, one way or another."
The three state agencies that will move out of the building are funded by fees from telecommunications firms, banks, and insurance companies, meaning that these corporations would be the primary beneficiaries of the savings. Still, Patrick administration officials said the move is warranted....
And SCREW YOU, taxpayers, as he RAISES TAXES ALL OVER the PLACE!!!!!
