Sunday, June 9, 2013

Time to stop treating those who live off the public's dime like royalty


CUNY and SUNY bigs get chauffeurs as tuition soars


City College President Lisa Coico’s Upper West Side home is just four subway stops from the Manhattanville campus, but Coico is chauffeured the two miles to work and back every day in a state-issued Buick.
Coico, whose salary is $300,000, is among nearly 70 SUNY and CUNY officials who enjoy the use of taxpayer-funded wheels and sometimes a driver. In Coico’s case the driver is a college public-safety officer.
In 2009, after The Post exposed the number of commissioners chauffeured to their jobs, the state cracked down on the practice, as well as the personal use of vehicles by agency heads. But the university systems set their own policies.
Both the SUNY and CUNY chancellors have cars and drivers. CUNY Chancellor Matthew Goldstein valued the personal use of his car last year at $14,985, the highest in the state.
College presidents are entitled to cars, as well.
The Ivory Tower execs are joyriding while students are struggling to meet soaring tuition, after trustees in 2011 approved $300-per-student increases for five years for the state and city college systems. CUNY students now pay more than $5,000 per year.
“Presidents are not assigned drivers, but there are clearly situations when it is appropriate,” said David Doyle, a SUNY spokesman.
Such situations may include long trips when a driver “would allow them to attend to other university business while in the car.”
Russ Haven, legislative counsel for the New York Public Interest Research Group, said perks such as cars “should be pared to an absolute minimum.”
“At a time when folks are tightening their belts, people who work for state government need to do more with less,” Haven said.
The cost to buy, lease and maintain the state’s fleet of vehicles declined to $55 million in the 2013 fiscal year from a peak of $118 million in the 2008 fiscal year.
But the practice of doling out cars continues in some corners of government. Some 900 workers used a state car for personal reasons in 2012, according to the state Comptroller’s Office.
Fifteen state lawmakers are given wheels, including Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, who drives a 2011 Ford Taurus. His assistant, Judy Rapfogel, and counsel, James Yates, also get cars — 2011 Chevy Impalas. They are entitled to them because they are “senior staffers,” according to a Silver spokeswoman.
Thirty judges and other court-system workers have cars, including administrative judges outside of New York City who oversee courts in several counties.
Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman and a few other jurists have court officers who drive them, according to a court-system spokesman.
State commissioners have unlimited use of the cars in their agency’s pool of vehicles. But the commissioners and others who commute in the cars, or drive them for any personal business must calculate that use so that it is reported to the IRS as a taxable benefit.
Personal use is tallied by adding up miles driven, by using a daily rate or by the value of the car.
Among commissioners commuting in their cars is Barbara Fiala, the head of the Department of Motor Vehicles, who lives in Binghamton, and uses an agency pool car to drive the 140 miles to her Albany office. She typically drives a 2007 Chevrolet Impala and makes one round trip a week, according to the agency.
The value of her personal use last year was $3,344, records show.
Public Service Commission Chairman Garry Brown commutes in his agency car “to ensure immediate accessibility,” according to the agency. He valued that use at $7,361 in 2012.


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