Peeved at being denied a pay hike, state lawmakers set out to ruin Gov. Cuomo’s Thanksgiving by sending him 133 bills to sign or veto by Sunday. Here’s one he should kill without a second thought: the giveaway to private-sector schoolbus drivers.
Three years ago, Mayor Mike Bloomberg made a bold gambit to cut obscene school-busing costs: soliciting bids for new contracts that didn’t require costly employee protections. Competitive bidding then yielded new contracts that saved the city more than $400 million over five years.
The bill on Cuomo’s desk would end those savings by 1) mandating preferences for the most costly senior drivers, and 2) imposing an expensive standard for cost adjustments when contracts are renewed.
Mind you, the drivers have already won big favors from Mayor de Blasio — a $42 million public cash grant in his first budget, renewed again last year.
The mayor may wind up regretting the measure — since it’s now yet another of his potential “pay to play” headaches. Alexis Lodde, a Texas-based bus operator whose firm benefited greatly from the subsidy, made a $100,000 donation to New York Senate Democrats, de Blasio’s pet cause in his 2014 quest to oust Senate Republicans.
If nothing else, the reek should prompt Cuomo to kill the bill.