Nassau should repay MTA loan
MTA fare vending machines will not accept credit or debit card purchases between 1 a.m. and 9:30 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 16, 2014, due to a mainframe software upgrade, officials said. Credit: MTA
In 1996 Nassau County made a deal with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority that seemingly benefited both sides. The MTA loaned the county $51 million, and the county agreed to repay the MTA $102 million, which would be used entirely on MTA capital projects in Nassau.
Nassau took the money and did pay most of what it owed, but ultimately the county shorted the MTA $13 million.
Nassau justified this by claiming in a 2001 lawsuit that the MTA lacked the authority to make the deal - not a point the county seemed troubled by when it originally took the money.
Reneging would have been wrong even if the legal strategy had succeeded. It didn't succeed, though: A State Supreme Court justice ruled last month that Nassau must cough up the remaining $13 million it had agreed to pay - plus a further $7.3 million, also for capital projects. The judge was rightly dismissive of Nassau's argument that the statute of limitations has lapsed in the case and the money is no longer due.
Now the county plans to appeal, and says the money won't be paid until every avenue of avoiding it is exhausted. Instead, Nassau should just pay this debt. It's the smart thing, and the right thing, to do. hN
