THOMAS A. RUBIN, CPA, CMA, CMC, CIA, CGFM, CFM
STATEMENT OF QUALIFICATIONS
TABLE OF CONTENTS
THOMAS A. RUBIN, CPA, CMA, CMC, CIA, CGFM, CFM
STATEMENT OF QUALIFICATIONS
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Section Page
Thomas A. Rubin,
Consultant 2
Southern
California Rapid Transit District Experience 10
Alameda-Contra
Costa Transit District Experience 12
Experience with
Experience with
State Departments of Transportation 14
Experience with
California Transportation Agencies 15
Financial
Planning and Analysis 17
Financial Audit 19
Management Information Systems 21
Capital Project
Management and Audit 23
Performance Audit
and Performance Management Systems 25
Merger and
Reorganization 26
Contracting and
Privatization 27
Expert/Expert
Witness 28
Miscellaneous
Transportation 32
Non-Transportation 35
Professional and
Civic Association Activities 37
Education, Licenses,
and Professional Certifications 41
Speeches and Papers 42
References 51
THOMAS A. RUBIN, CONSULTANT
I have been engaged as a self-employed consultant and
author for the periods June 1994 to July 1995 and since June 1996. During these times, my clients have included:
•
Since June, 2001,
I have been working with the School Construction Bond Citizens’ Oversight
Committee for the Los Angeles Unified School District, assisting them in
overseeing the expenditure of almost $10 billion in proceeds from three
voter-approved bond issues, and over $5 billion in funding from other sources,
for renovation of existing schools and construction of new ones, the largest
local/municipal government construction program in the history of the United
States.
• NAACP Legal Defense and Educational
Fund, Inc. (LDF) – Beginning in September 1994, I served as an expert in the
Federal Labor/Community Strategy Center (L/CSC) et al v. Los Angeles
County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) et al Title VI
(discrimination in the utilization of Federal grant funds) class action
lawsuit. As part of my work, I prepared
several declarations and two expert reports, advised plaintiffs and counsel on
transit operations and financial matters, and made written and oral
presentations to the MTA Board of Directors, the State Senate Transportation
Committee, the California Transportation Commission, and the mediator appointed
by the Court. I was also deposed by
defense counsel for four days regarding my expert reports and assisted
plaintiff counsel in its deposition of defendant personnel. After two years of intensive pre-trial
preparation, and a preliminary injunction largely granting the plaintiff's
requests, the suit was settled on terms highly favorable to the plaintiff. The plaintiff's requested remedy was changes
in MTA project funding, transit service quality and quantity improvements, and
transit fare policies and practices, rather than monetary damages. The dollar value of the shift of funding has
been estimated in a range of over $700 million (defendants) to $1.5 to $3
billion (plaintiffs).
The reduced fares, reduction in
overcrowding on buses, new bus routes, and other transit improvements required
by the Consent Decree have resulted in a total turnaround of MTA transit
ridership. In the eleven years prior to
the execution of the Consent Decree in late 1996, MTA had lost an average of
over 12 million riders years; in the six years following the Consent Decree, MTA
added an average of over 13 million riders a year.
I have been engaged in monitoring
MTA's compliance with its commitments the "Joint Working Group"
process established by the Consent Decree since 1996, a process that is
expected to continue for several more years.
I have prepared numerous expert reports and declarations, have been
deposed on multiple occasions, made presentations to the Special Master
appointed by the Court, have testified in
I have assisted plaintiff counsel
and the plaintiffs in preparing successful presentations to the Special
Master. This produced first an advisory
finding, then an enforceable order, for MTA to increase its level of service to
the public to comply with the terms of the CD.
I have also assisted in the plaintiff’s successful defense of these
orders before the District Court, a Ninth Circuit tribunal, and the entire
Ninth Circuit.
• As a subcontractor to Cambridge
Systematics, Inc., I assisted the State of
• I served as an expert to the law firm
of Richard I. Fine & Associates in Raymond Veltman v. State of
California. This suit was brought to
require a return of $50 million of Transportation Development Act sales tax
funds that were transferred from MTA to the
• I assist the United Transportation
Union (UTU), which represents MTA's bus and train operators and schedulers, in
the labor contract negotiations and pension plan administration processes. My primary areas of support are employee
benefits, including pension and Social Security, and costing of proposals, and,
during a 32-day strike, representing the UTU in testimony before a joint State
Senate/Assembly hearing. I also provide
assistance in on-going pension plan administration matters.
I served as an expert to UTU in
two arbitration actions against the MTA, where UTU alleged that MTA had
improperly converted certain bus lines to be staffed with lower wage bus
operators in violation of the bargaining agreement. I prepared a declaration and testified re MTA
and common industry definitions of terms in the agreement and prepared an
analysis of MTA’s (failures in) compliance of the agreement. The arbitrator found for the UTU. In a later arbitration, I assisted UTU in the
determination of penalties against MTA for the first violation.
I am currently assisting UTU and
the Amalgamated Transportation Union (ATU) , which
represents MTA mechanics, service attendants, and certain related functions, in
analyzing and responding to MTA proposals to restructure transit service
delivery in
I also assisted ATU in attempting
to gain passage of a State law requiring MTA to make contributions to the ATU
Health and Welfare fund.
• I served as an expert, assisting the
law firm of Neyhart, Anderson, Fretas, Flynn & Grosboll, in Neil Silver
et al v. Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Administration. The plaintiff alleged that MTA improperly
removed certain MTA employees from coverage under the Social Security Act Old
Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance (OASDI) program and improperly paid the
OASDI contributions and related taxes on such payments for certain MTA
employees, not including the plaintiffs.
I assisted plaintiff counsel in formulating and structuring legal arguments
and proofs and rendered a declaration.
•
For the Texas
Public Policy Foundation (TPPF), with Wendell Cox, I prepared a report, Trolley
Folly – A Feasibility Study of VIA’s Light Rail Plan[1],
examining the feasibility and utility light rail/sales tax increase ballot
referendum proposed by VIA Metropolitan Transit in
I also assisted TPPF in its
opposition to a referendum proposal by Dallas Area Rapid Transit to extend its
debt term authority from the current five years to thirty years in order to
speed construction of light rail lines and certain other transportation
projects. My responsibilities included
analysis of the cost per added trip ($37.70), review of sales tax growth
projections, examination of passenger growth and fare increase projections,
preparation and presentation of reports on these and related topics, and
participation in a debate. Wendell Cox
and I prepared The DART Long Term Debt Issue: Unnecessary Costs and High
Risks, August 2000. The proposal was
successful at the polls.
Also with Wendell Cox, I prepared
a report for TPPF on long-term surface transportation options for the State of
• For the Santa Clara County Valley
Transportation Authority (
I also assisted VTA in its defense
against major construction claims related to the Tasman Light Rail line,
performing contract audit and construction project oversight-related work.
•
For Metro Transit
(Metropolitan County Transit Operations, Minneapolis/Saint Paul), I prepared
four reports: (1) Costing of light rail and "rubber tire" guideway
options for the Hiawatha Transit Corridor, (2) Analysis of operator labor wage,
benefits, and work rules, (3) Peer group
analysis of Metro Transit operations, and (4) Metro Transit budget analysis.
• I served as an expert to the law firm
of Richard I. Fine & Associates in Rex Foreman v. City of Los Angeles. The plaintiff alleged that the City
improperly utilized Special Parking Revenue Fund monies for purposes that were
not allowed by the City Ordinance that authorized the creation of the
Fund. I assisted plaintiff counsel in
formulating and structuring legal arguments and proofs, rendered an expert
declaration, critiqued defendant's expert reports, and provided expert
assistance in the plaintiff's deposition of defendant's expert. After the plaintiff's case was presented, the
case was settled on terms highly satisfactory to the plaintiff.
•
Along with
Wendell Cox, I assisted Reclaim Our Allocated Dollars (ROAD) in an analysis and
response to proposed surface transportation plans in
• For the Reason Foundation, with
funding from the Irvine Foundation, I wrote four papers (with co-author James
E. Moore II of the University of Southern California): (1) "Why Rail Will
Fail: An Analysis of the Los Angeles
County Metropolitan Transportation Authority's Long Range Plan" (Policy
Study No. 209, July 1996), (2) "Ten Transit Myths: Misperceptions About Rail Transit in Los
Angeles and the Nation" (Policy Study No. 218, November 1996), (3)
"Rubber Tire Transit: A Viable
Alternative to Rail" (Policy Study No. 230, August 1997), (4) "Better
Transportation Alternatives for Los Angeles" (Policy Study No. 232,
September 1997). With Professor Moore,
Dean Peter Gordon of the University of Southern California School of Planning
and Urban Design, and Robert Poole, President of the Reason Foundation, I
co-authored, “Improving Transportation in the San Fernando Valley,” (Policy
Study No. 249, January 1999)[3],
authoring the chapter on transit and the introductory and conclusion chapters.
•
I served as an
expert to the law firm of Richard I. Fine & Associates in Jerry L.
Counts, an individual, Kurt Hathaway, an individual, and Edward C. Waldheim, an
individual v. Pete Wilson, Governor of the State of California, Kathleen
Connell, Controller of the State of California, and Craig Brown, Director of
Finance of the State of California.
The plaintiff alleged that the State had improper utilized off-road
vehicle registration funds and other funds that were dedicated, by law, for
specific off-road vehicle and recreational purposes for the general fund. The trial court found for the plaintiff and
the defendant appeal of this decision was not successful.
•
For PTI
Journal, James E. Moore II and I wrote "Rail Transit in
•
I served as an
expert, assisting the firm of Bricklin & Gendler, LLP, in Save Our
Valley v. Sound Transit (
•
Working as an
expert/expert witness for the Texas Legal Foundation, plaintiff counsel in Rob
Todd and Alan Vogel v. The City of Houston, Texas and Metropolitan
Transportation Authority of Harris County, Texas (1999 Number 48884 in
District Court of Houston, Texas, 190th Judicial District), I
testified in support of the claim that the defendants had improperly refused to
hold an election prior to the City allowing MTA to construct a light rail line
on City streets, following the presentation of a petition with a sufficient
number of valid signatures. Plaintiffs
were successful in District Court, but were reversed on appeal.
•
I prepared an
analysis of the Southern California Association of Governments’ Regional
Transportation Plan for Environmental Defense (e) (formerly
Environmental Defense Fund). I also
assisted e in the analysis of a proposed transportation plan for Marin
and
I also prepared an analysis of the
fare levels of the Los Angeles MTA and presented it to the MTA Board on behalf
of Environmental Defense, the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Coalition for
Clean Air, the Asian Pacific American Legal Center of Southern California, and
Communities for a Better Environment.
Our proposal to reduce MTA fares was not accepted by the MTA Board, but
MTA management’s proposal to raise fares was not, either.
I also assisted e in an
open space project in the lower income, largely minority areas of
•
I served as an
expert to the law firm of Richard I. Fine & Associates in Norman Amjadi
and Los Angeles County Association of Environment Health Specialists v. Board
of Supervisors of The Los Angeles County, Sally Reed, Chief Administrative
Officer, and Robert Gates, Director of the Department of Health Services
(BC 110446). Plaintiffs alleged that the
County improperly and illegally increased public health inspection and license
fees without typing such fees to actual costs of performance. I prepared a report and testified re the
accounting requirements under the law and the County’s actual actions. The Court found for the plaintiffs in this
matter.
•
Working for the
law firm of Hale Lane Peak Dennison Howard and Anderson in
•
I assisted the
•
I assisted
Perkins Coie LLP as an expert/expert witness in Citizens for Mobility;
Stuart Weiss; Donald F. Padelford; Richard Nelson; Richard Fike; Thomas Coad;
and Emery Bundy v. Rodney E. Slater, Secretary of Transportation, Nuria I.
Fernandez, Administrator of the Federal Transit Administration; Helen M. Knoll,
Regional Director, Federal Transit Administration, Region X; U.S. Department of
Transportation; Federal Transit Administration; and Central Puget Sound
Regional Transit Agency (W.D.
Wash., No. C00-1812Z). Plaintiffs
alleged that Central Puget Sound Regional Transit Agency prepared and acted on an false and improper environmental impact statement in
approving the Central Link light rail project.
•
I assisted
Cleveland, Haddon & Metz in Robert Torres et al v. MTA. Plaintiffs alleged that their employer, MTA,
unfairly discriminated in employee benefits in favor of former employees of the
Los Angeles County Transportation Commission and against the former employees
of the Southern California Rapid Transit District after the 1993 merger that
formed MTA. I assisted counsel in
documenting differences in treatment of employees and their impacts.
•
I assisted the
Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce to review a light rail transit proposal
to be funded by a sales tax increase.
Based on the analysis by CofC staff, myself, and another consultant, the
CofC Board voted to oppose the plan and tax.
I later assisted Citizens for Responsible Spending, which was formed to
oppose the plan, in defeating the proposal, 60%/40%.
•
I assisted the
Cities of Fremont and
•
I assisted the
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, locals 3150 and
3634, in their contract negotiations with MTA.
AFSCME represents first line transit operations and maintenance
supervisors.
•
I am assisting
Cades Schutte LLP in Sensible Traffic Alternatives and Resources, Ltd. v
Federal Transit Administration and City & County of Honolulu Department of
Transportation Services et al in a challenge to the Environmental Impact
Statements for the “Primary Corridor Transportation” Bus Rapid Transit project
“Initial Operating Segment” in
•
Working with
Citizens Organized for Smart Transit (COST) in the
•
Working with the
law firm of Rowley & Klauser, LLP, I prepared an expert report analyzing the
safety and security of debt service payments to bond holders of the Central
Puget Sound Regional Transit Authority (Sound Transit) in the event of Sound
Transit’s loss of motor vehicle excise tax receipts as a result of the passage
of State of Washington initiative 776.
I served as Controller-Treasurer (Chief Financial
Officer) of the Southern California Rapid Transit District from June 1989 until
the merger that formed the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation
Authority (MTA) in April of 1993. After
passing on the position of Chief Financial Officer of MTA, I continued as an
MTA employee until June of 1994. SCRTD,
the largest transit operator in the State of
• Accounting and Fiscal – All
financial and accounting activities of the District, including general
accounting, payroll, accounts payable and receivable, fixed assets, payroll,
cashier, farebox cash counting, pass and ticket sales accounting, and
construction project and grant accounting.
Under my direction, the District was awarded the Certificate of Achievement for
Excellence in Financial Reporting from the GFOA for its Comprehensive Annual
Financial Report in its first year of application. I initiated and directed a program to replace
tickets with tokens, which will result in over $5 million per year in annual
savings through reduction of counterfeiting and more efficient fare
processing. I was responsible for all
financial reports and grantor agency relations for over $1.8 billion of
grant-funded projects, including the largest single Federal grant program in
the nation at the time, the
• Human Resources – Employment,
compensation, employee benefits, training, special projects (employee wellness,
child care, employee magazine), employee activities,
and retirement income program (pension plans, Section 457 deferred compensation
plan, 401(k) plan). The District human
resources program was nationally respected, including establishing one of the
first, and still the most comprehensive, substance abuse programs in the
industry.
• Management Information Systems
– Design, implementation, management, and operations of one of the most
sophisticated comprehensive transit operator management information systems in
the world. SCRTD software has frequently
been transferred to other transit operators.
• Risk Management – Placement of
the District's insurance coverages, management of our public liability and
workers' compensation contractors (each approximately $30 million per year
self-insured, third party administered), and safety. The District set new all-time safety records
in each of my last three years and reduced risk management costs by over $10
million per year, due in large part to a nationally recognized safety and
claims management activities. I spent a
great deal of time working with my two rail safety engineers attempting to
reduce the collision/fatality rates on the Long Beach Blue Line, which,
unfortunately, has proven to be the most dangerous light rail line in the
United States by a wide margin. I was
the first to suggest the use of “four-quadrant” gates, which, unlike the more
common “two-quadrant” gates, block both sides of the street, making it more
difficult to drive around the lowered crossing gate arms and into the paths of
on-coming trains.
• Treasury – Management District
short-and long-term debt, investment of District cash assets (up to $200
million), management of the assets held by the District's four pension plans
(over $500 million), and management of other related funds ($300 million). The District commonly turned over $125-150
million in revenue anticipation notes per year.
I also placed approximately $500 million of long-term debt. I structured a Japanese cross boarder leases
that are provided over $1 million in direct bottom line cash. The District enjoyed extremely favorable
interest rates on its outstanding debt, the investment of District funds
consistently achieved returns well in excess of industry norms, and the pension
plans were funded in excess of 105%.
• Management and Budget –
Preparation of the District's short- and long-range financial plans and
budgets, relations with grantor agencies from grant application to grant
close-out, and preparation of internal performance measurement reports and
evaluations.
I represented the public transit industry, presenting
testimony supporting the dollar coin, before the U.S. House of Representatives
Committee on Banking, Finance and Urban Affairs Subcommittee on Consumer
Affairs and Coinage.
I have also served on, or chaired, several
District-wide committees, including the New Services Review Board, the Budget
Review Committee, the four District pension plan administrative committees, the
Pension Investments Committee (Chair), the Personnel Review Committee, and the
Southern California Rapid Transit Finance Corporation (Chair). I served as General Manager pro tem on
several occasions in the absence of the General Manager.
I served as Assistant General Manager-Finance of the
Alameda-Contra Costa Transit District in
• Accounting – All financial and
accounting activities of the District, including general accounting, payroll,
accounts payable and receivable, fixed assets, payroll, and construction
project and grant accounting. Under my
direction, the District was awarded the Certificate of Achievement for
Excellence in Financial Reporting from the Government Finance Officers
Association (GFOA) for its Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, making it one
of fewer than 20 transit operators in the nation to receive this prestigious
award.
• Benefits – Medical, life
insurance, long-term disability, workers' compensation, and other benefits for
almost 2,000 employees and over 2,000 retirees
• Budget – Preparation of
operational and capital budgets for $150 million+ a year agency and financial
elements of Short-Range Financial Plan plus monitoring of performance and
performance measures. The District was
one of a handful of transit operators to receive the GFOA Award for
Distinguished Budget Presentation.
• Information Systems –
Operation and expansion of integrated business mini-computer based information
systems, expansion of personal computer LAN/WAN network, and telephone system
operations and expansion
• Procurement and Stores –
Procurement of over $50 million a year in goods, services, and capital assets;
operation of central storeroom and four division storerooms; and print shop
operations
• Retirement – Management of
$135 million+ pension plan and Section 457 Deferred Compensation Plan
• Risk Management – Placement of
Property Damage/Public Liability, Property, and other coverages; management of
claims inventory averaging over 1,000 per year
• Treasury – Management of over
$50 million in District cash plus oversight of pension fund investments,
placement of District debt, operation and repair of over 700 fareboxes and four
division cash collection systems, oversight of cash counting contractor
In a time of fiscal distress, I developed a plan to
generate over $2 million of new revenues through cross-boarder leases, COPs advance refinancing, COPs reserve fund
investment return improvement, cash management improvements, and RANs
issuance/legal arbitrage, and implemented the RANs while at AC Transit. I did financial analysis and
inter-governmental liaison for a proposed parcel tax and a renewal of the
I also negotiated settlement of $7+ million pension
plan funding dispute with bargaining units and commenced the process of
wholesale change of outdated pension plan provisions. I served as Acting General Manager on several
occasions in the absence of the General Manager.
EXPERIENCE WITH
• California Department of
Transportation – Preparation of manual on procurement and management of
contract transit services (I took SCRTD position shortly after commencement of
this project)
•
·· Operational audit of
DWQ's billion-dollar-a-year clean water grant program
·· Information
requirements study and management information systems design for a
comprehensive management information system for the Board, including the
preparation and presentation of a feasibility study report. I also did an extensive study of potential
systems to meet the Board's requirements, resulting in the selection and
modification of a system currently being used by another State agency.
·· Design of an audit
program and organization of an audit and project oversight department for DWQ
EXPERIENCE WITH STATE DEPARTMENTS OF TRANSPORTATION
•
• Ohio Department of Transportation
Division of Public Transportation:
·· Assisted
·· Strategic planning
study and organizational review
•
·· Contracting for and
control over service contracts
·· Internal management
and accounting controls
• State of Washington Department of
Transportation – Arrangement of safe-harbor lease, which involved obtaining
passage of a new Federal law to allow W-DOT to realize over $15 million from
the sale of depreciation rights on ferries
•
State of
EXPERIENCE WITH CALIFORNIA TRANSPORTATION AGENCIES
I have served the following
• Alameda-Contra Costa Transit District
•
• California Department of
Transportation
• Central Contra Costa Transit District
•
City of
•
•
•
• Laidlaw Transit, Inc.
•
• Long Beach Public Transit Corporation
•
• Metropolitan Transportation
Commission
•
• Monterey-Salinas Transit
•
City of
•
• Orange County Transit District
•
• Ripon Transit System
• Riverside Transit Agency
• Sacramento Regional Transit District
•
• San Diego Transit Corporation
• San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit
District
•
•
•
• San Mateo County Transit District
• Santa Cruz Metropolitan Transit
District
• Santa Clara County Transit District
• Santa Clara County Transportation
Agency
•
Santa Clara
Valley Transportation Agency
• Southern
• Southern California Rapid Transit
District
•
• Southern
• Stockton Metropolitan Transit
District
• Town of
• TRACY TRANS
•
FINANCIAL PLANNING AND ANALYSIS
•
•
• Metro-Dade Transit Agency (
• Metropolitan Transportation
Commission – Long-term capital/operating/finance model and study
• National League of Cities –
Developed a manual on applying financial capacity analysis to city-owned and
operated transit systems
• Orange County Transit District
– Long-term capital/operating financial analysis and modeling
•