MTA seeks $13 million from Nassau County

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority has asked a state court to force Nassau County to pay $13 million the agency says it is owed dating back to a deal the two sides made 14 years ago.

An MTA source said the legal filing is the first salvo in a new "aggressive" approach with Nassau, which the MTA has wrangled with for years over its role in funding public transportation in the county.

According to legal documents filed Wednesday in State Supreme Court in Manhattan, the MTA lent "the cash-strapped county" $51 million in 1996 in a "2-for-1" agreement in which Nassau agreed to pay back twice that sum in funds for MTA capital projects in Nassau.

Nassau issued bonds to raise the full $102 million and made good on $89 million of the capital funding it had committed to the MTA. But, according to the suit, in 2001 the county filed a lawsuit looking to get out of the agreement, arguing that the MTA overstepped its authority in making the deal.

The MTA's court filing Wednesday was a response to that suit.

In 2007, Nassau "misappropriated" the remainder of the money, "which it was required to hold in trust and use solely to reimburse the MTA," according to the suit.

Nassau County Attorney John Ciampoli said the county is reviewing its options and will fight the suit. He added that Nassau will do all it can to "defend the taxpayers of this county."

"If they're going to get aggressive, they're going to see aggressive," he said.

The MTA has not seriously pursued recouping the remainder of the money it was owed until now, as the agency faces an ever-widening operational budget deficit that already has resulted in widespread service cuts and layoffs.

In addition, the MTA is without a five-year capital plan. Its last plan expired in December and the MTA has been unable to secure funding for all but two years of its 2010-14 capital budget, which funds major infrastructure projects.

MTA spokesman Jeremy Soffin said any money recouped from Nassau in the suit would go toward the agency's capital budget.

"There is definitely a very sharp focus at the MTA right now on making every dollar count," Soffin said. "This was money that's been owed to us for a long time and it didn't make any sense to allow it to linger."

The MTA has long butted heads with Nassau County, particularly over its role in helping to fund Long Island Bus, which is operated by the MTA but owned by Nassau.

Last year, Nassau cut its subsidy for the bus system from $10.5 million to $9.1 million. LI Bus' total operating budget this year is $135 million.