Remember back when a train delay meant you'd be just ten or fifteen minutes late for work?

Sure, we grumbled then. But now we've traded minutes for hours, we know those were the good old days. 

And now, someone's conveniently done the math: all of those hours have added up, and are costing the city a fortune.

A new study released by the Independent Budget Office shows that city workers alone have already missed over 17K hours this year and are set to miss nearly 26K by year's end. That's a 30% increase since last year.

The data is tracked through a city worker database which logs cause of lateness and proof. If the tardiness is excused, the employee is paid for their missed time. The average city worker makes almost $33 and those bucks add up, too: the city's already shelled out $550K in pay. 

[anad]

But it's only a part of the big picture. While the estimate includes FDNY, NYPD and the Sanitation Department, it doesn't track the Department of Education, NYCHA and some 200K other employees. And remember, this is just city workers. 

City, state and the MTA continue to pay the blame game with the subway system's woes as the "Summer of Hell" comes to a close with no solution for commuters in sight.

A spokesperson for Mayor Bill de Blasio insisted the IBO report proves the mayor's "millionaires tax" proposal needs to be passed. He called on the state to support De Blasio's plan to tax the wealthiest 1% to pay to fix the city's buses and trains.

An MTA spokesperson responded by calling on the city to take some responsibility and pay their half of the $800 million needing to fix the failing system.

mta

It seems like everyone's got their own plan these days, and some of them are pretty out there. 

Hopefully, everyone can stop blaming each other, and get their act together to actually fix the problem. Until then, hey, at least city workers are getting paid.