What a deal to stop the LIRR strike could cost commuters

Daily Point

Price tag end of strike could bring

As the MTA and five Long Island Rail Road unions continued negotiations Monday on a wage package that would end the three-day-old labor strike, the only certainty is that LIRR riders will face an increase in ticket prices as early as next year.

The two parties apparently had agreed on terms for the contract's first three years, but the unions have been seeking a fourth-year 5% raise, while the authority has proposed a 3% raise, plus lump-sum payments.

According to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, a 5% raise across all of its unions — those striking and those that would want the raise in their next contracts — would add $270 million in annual costs. The MTA had already planned a 4% fare increase in 2027 on its every-other-year fare increase schedule that will raise $225 million annually, but that would only cover existing inflationary costs. At a recent presentation to the MTA Board, MTA Chief Financial Officer Jai Patel said the next fare increase would have to total 8% to cover the additional 5% raise the unions are proposing for the final year of their contract.

If a fare hike goes beyond the scheduled 4% to 8%, what would that mean for tickets on Long Island? For commuters using the Hicksville station, the monthly cost of a ticket could jump from $299.75 to $323.73, about $24 a month and $288 for the year. Farther east, for those using the Greenport or Montauk or Riverhead stops, the monthly cost could increase around $39 a month for a yearly increase of $468.

If the MTA and the unions agreed on concessions such as work rules changes that paid for the salary increases, the extra fare hikes may not be needed. Sources Monday initially said the two parties were getting closer, but by midafternoon that optimism may have evaporated.

— Randi F. Marshall randi.marshall@newsday.com, Karthika Namboothiri karthika.namboothiri@newsday.com

Pencil Point

Founding flaw

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Final Point

Islip commissioner may be removed from post

He went from "truly irreplaceable" to possibly out of a job in less than a week.

Some Islip Town Board members may be maneuvering to oust Martin Bellew as commissioner of the town's Department of Environmental Control and replace him with Gina Marie Cacoperdo, who was appointed only in March as the $107,000-a-year deputy of the department. Two sources confirmed the account to The Point. Neither move is on the agenda for the town's Tuesday meeting.

Only last week, Bellew received the "Municipal Leaders for the Environment" award at the Herald Sustainability Awards of Long Island powered by Reworld. In a news release on Islip's website, Supervisor Angie Carpenter hails Bellew as "... a huge asset to our Town ..." adding that Islip "... was enormously lucky to find such an incredibly experienced, educated, and competent Commissioner to handle our Department of DEC ... he is truly irreplaceable."

The Point has learned that at Tuesday's regularly scheduled town board meeting, a motion, being called a pocket veto, will be made to replace Bellew with Cacoperdo. If the motion is seconded, only one other vote is needed. There are four Republicans and one Democrat on the board. Bellew was appointed commissioner of the town's DEC in September 2018. Such a move is needed to go around Carpenter.

One source told The Point that the move to oust Bellew in favor of Cacoperdo is part of an Islip MAGA assault on RINOs — Republicans in Name Only. "This is a hostile takeover," the source said.

But Carpenter attributed the attempt to oust Bellew as just the result of "young, inexperienced leadership thinking they know better."

Bellew is at an upstate professional conference and won't be in Islip during the town board meeting, Carpenter said.

Doug Smith, the Islip Town GOP chair and Assembly member for parts of Islip, told The Point that he would support a leadership change.

"I continue to hear serious concerns regarding management, oversight, accountability, compliance issues, and the overall direction of the Department," Smith texted The Point, emphasizing that his comments were as the assemblyman. "... the Town cannot afford to have leadership that is either unwilling or unable to aggressively address the operational problems that exist."

Smith said he would support the town board swapping Cacoperdo for Bellew. "... I believe she understands the seriousness of the issues facing these facilities and is prepared to take a much more hands-on approach to getting things back on track."

In his role as party leader, however, Smith was direct: "Speaking as the Chairman of the Islip Town Republican Party: good government is good politics, and the people of Islip deserve better," he texted The Point.

But Carpenter said Bellew is an "extraordinarily credentialed" and "educated professional engineer" who oversaw the construction of the town's new animal shelter "under budget and one time, with nary a problem."

All of that is not officially on the town agenda for tomorrow. What has been given public notice are salary increases for the town clerk and receiver of taxes. Seems quite tame in comparison.

— Mark Nolan mark.nolan@newsday.com

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