Probe Blasio’s $136M bus-driver boost: pol

Mayor de Blasio’s decision to pay school-bus workers seniority benefits that are not part of their contract is going to cost taxpayers $136 million — and a city lawmaker is calling for an investigation.

De Blasio promised during his mayoral campaign to reverse a Bloomberg-administration contract that removed seniority protections for the workers, lowering their pay but saving taxpayers tens of millions of dollars.

In 2014, the mayor convinced the City Council to approve a oneyear subsidy costing $42 million.

Some council members decried the move as an unprecedented giveaway, so the mayor decided to fund future payments directly without legislative approval.

By July 1, the cost over four years is expected to reach an astonishing $136 million — and it’s all going to the employees of one firm, Reliant Transportation.

“Circumventing the council’s authority by abusing the procurement process is a cause for alarm, and this subsidy should be further investigated,” said Councilmember Paul Vallone (D-Queens), chair of the Committee on Economic Development.

A review of government records and e-mails shows that lobbyists for the union whose members benefited from the mayor’s actions — Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1181 — had a hand in drafting the 2014 legislation creating the subsidy.

Those lobbyists, led by Harold Ickes, once an aide to former President Bill Clinton, played a similar role in helping to craft state legislation proposed by the city in 2015 that sought to codify the worker benefits into law.

Those benefits say any firm that wins school-bus contracts must hire from a central pool, starting with the most veteran — and, therefore, highest-paid — workers.

Records show Ickes met with de Blasio and Office of Labor Relations chief Bob Linn at City Hall on Aug. 7, 2014. On Aug. 12, Linn e-mailed Ickes to say, “I have attached a revised draft of the bill that includes changes made in response to your comments.”

The legislation was introduced by the council on Aug. 19, at the mayor’s request. The council took just three days to hold a public hearing, have a committee vote and pass the bill, a process expedited by a rare “message of necessity” signed by de Blasio on Aug. 20. City Hall defended the subsidy. “We trust school-bus drivers to get our kids to school safely, which is why it’s important that they’re well-trained and paid a fair wage,” said City Hall spokeswoman Freddi Goldstein.