According to the Miami Herald:
Federal regulators have abruptly suspended audits of the Miami-Dade Transit agency, intensifying concerns about how long a crucial cut-off of federal funding will drag on.That was the "hope," but not the result.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.
The unusual move — which caught county officials by surprise — means a five-month federal cutoff of some $185 million in grant money the county relies on to fund daily operations will continue indefinitely. The uncertainty raises the specter of potential funding issues for bus and rail services down the road, although county officials are playing down any such concerns.
The latest setback for the beleaguered Miami-Dade Transit agency comes after the FTA took the extraordinary step in November of suspending all federal grant payments to the county-run transit agency amid concerns about shoddy financial management and weak internal controls.
Since early February, federal contractors have camped out at the county agency, poring over thousands of transactions in a bid to get a clearer picture of the agency’s financial practices and procedures. The hope was the problems would be resolved and federal funding restored.
Ysela Yort, with her $260,970 salary, was "caught by surprise" and is "playing down" the severity of losing access to $185 million.
MDT Director Harpal Kapoor, whom we all remember as the $242,602 a year bureaucrat that was part of the infamous Doral warehouse meetings with ousted mayor Carlos Alvarez, also can't explain what's going on.
Why do Ysela Yort and Harpal Kapoor still have their jobs?
Contrast this with the recent news of the FAA administrator who resigned over sleeping air traffic controllers. When subordinates failed to do their job, the top person and supervisor resigns.
But that is not the case at County Hall.
Ms. Yort and Mr. Kapoor continue to draw their hefty salaries in exchange for fiscal mismanagement, playing down crises, and platitudes about "delivering excellence," while the federal government and others continue to express grave concern over their management practices.
County manager Alina Hudak (whom we accused of being "Burgess lite") famously told the Miami Herald that she "hopes to continue in some capacity after a new mayor comes in."
In her handling of the MDT crisis and of its perpetrators, Ms. Yort and Mr. Kapoor, Ms. Hudak is showing the same lack of leadership that plagued George Burgess, where accountability gives way to excuses.
If this is the way Ms. Hudak runs Miami-Dade County, the next mayor will do well in wishing her a speedy retirement to enjoy her six figure pension.
