Feds: Miami-Dade Transit Dept. lies – still not releasing $185 million
Al’s Loupe
Feds: Miami-Dade Transit Dept. lies – still not releasing $185 million
By Alvaro F. Fernandez
alvaro@progreso-weekly.com
A couple of weeks ago I asked about Miami-Dade County Transit Director Harpal Kapoor. Sources on the 17th and 29th floor of county hall raised eyebrows and swore me to secrecy. Not to worry, I told them. “You see,” one answered, “they can fire me in a second; as for Kapoor… now that’s another story.”
My nose for corruption at the county must be refined. I say this because about a week after these encounters I read in The Miami Herald an article titled, “Transit funding cutoff continues.”
The transit funding referred to in the article is money the federal government provides the Miami-Dade transit agency. In a rare move, and as a result of what has been described as “shoddy financial management and weak internal controls,” the Feds cut off $185 million in grant money that was to fund daily operations in the department. This freeze has been in effect since September 2010.
From what I understand, an investigation of Transit, which began in the spring of 2010, deals with misuse of federal dollars. The abuse includes the use of these moneys to cover deficits in the department – illegal as stipulated in the agreement between the county and the federal governments.
Also consider that Transit may be one of the better-funded departments in the county. It receives a half-cent from the sales tax, which helps in funding them since 2002 – when we voted to increase our taxes in order to see improvements in our public transportation options. All we’ve seen since is an increase in our sales tax from 6.5% to 7% and a decline in our bus service, very little improvement in rapid transit, and other shallow promises amounting to little.
But back to Kapoor, who has known since April of last year that his department was in trouble with the federal government. He kept silent then. Then in September he received a letter from the feds telling him they were going to freeze the department’s funding because of the aforementioned “shoddy management” and the misuse of the federal dollars. Kapoor continued the silence, and in fact, together with then-manager George Burgess, misled county commissioners about the real state of affairs and the problem with the $185 million.
Whatever the case, this game of cat and mouse between Kapoor, Burgess (no longer in the picture since he parachuted golden after the humiliating recall defeat of Mayor Carlos Alvarez) and their lies to the county commission continues. In November, The Miami Herald wrote that “Kapoor … acknowledged the suspension but said he was confident payments will resume once MDT addresses FTA concerns in January or February. Kapoor also said the suspension will not disrupt services on Metrorail, Metrobus and Metromover.”
We are now in April. The county transit department continues to operate without the $185 million federal grant; it is now seven months. And the latest report, as explained by The Miami Herald, states that “In two letters dated April 8, Yvette Taylor, regional administrator of the Federal Transit Administration in Atlanta, notified the county-run transit agency that after nine weeks of probing county records, the federal agency cannot determine “the veracity of [Miami-Dade Transit’s] information” and was suspending its review until the county fixes eight areas of concern.”
In other words, the FTA is saying that they don’t believe the information being received from Miami-Dade Transit. Not surprising since Kapoor and others have demonstrated a great capacity to lie or skirt the truth. Another troubling factor in the Herald report is a paragraph that states, “County officials have been vague about when the funding cut off will affect the county’s financial picture or its transit services, which include Metrobus, Metrorail and special transportation services.”
To summarize, we have a department not receiving necessary funding for public transportation in Miami-Dade. A department head in Kapoor who is at best incompetent, probably a liar – and if so, who knows what else. The higher ups at the county have known of this situation since at least September 2010. But still, Kapoor continues on the job.
What gives?
I have been told that Kapoor was asked to resign by current county manager Alina Hudak. But Kapoor refuses to leave. The fact is that Hudak cannot fire him. In the strong mayor form of government under which we live, it’s the mayor who can replace Kapoor. And we’re currently without a mayor. It’s interesting to note that the former, recalled mayor, Carlos Alvarez, who could have fired Kapoor, did not. Instead, during the recall, Alvarez’ campaign used transit employees on the mayor’s behalf – illegally.
To say the least, Miamians should worry. And moving forward two things should be considered:
- Shouldn’t the county commission find a way of firing and then replacing Kapoor with someone who might restore integrity to the department?
- Every individual currently running for mayor of Miami-Dade should be asked what he or she plans to do regarding this critical issue. Also, are they planning to fire Kapoor as one of the first orders of business – once elected?
