MANHATTAN – The Port Authority is a "challenged and dysfunctional" organization that needs a "top-to-bottom overhaul," said a scathing audit of the agency released Tuesday.
The report highlighted a laundry-list of problems, including lack of consistent leadership, bureaucracy and insufficient cost controls, among other faults. Auditors also pointed out the rising and hidden cost of rebuilding Ground Zero, and called for changes to compensation, overtime controls and mandatory employee health-insurance contributions.
The audit was commissioned by Port Authority in the wake of last summer’s hike of Hudson River tolls, according to the New York Post.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who jointly oversee the agency, were quick to issue a joint statement condemning the performance of the PA.
"This record of historic failure must be reversed," Christie and Cuomo said in a statement.
"Steps have already been taken in the last two years, but much more must be done to restore the Port Authority to a responsible, highly transparent, well-managed organization focused on its core mission of maintaining and expanding our states' shared transportation infrastructure for the health and growth of our overlapping economies,” the statement continued.
“We will demand nothing short of the agency's implementation of comprehensive recommendations and reform to achieve this critical mission."
