Members of the group Reinvent Albany combed through a year of MTA documents were concerned —  they had found $42 million for towers at city bridge and tunnel crossings tucked into a series of routine contract approvals. They thought the towers were decorative.

That's because the the MTA at various meetings described them as "architectural enhancements," part of Gov. Cuomo's NY Crossings Project, which includes cashless tolls and LED bridge lights.

That raised questions.

"It's not just the question of, is it wasteful to spend money on these silver pylons or decorative towers while the subway's melting down? It's also, can the public have confidence in the MTA's entire procurement or contracting system right now," John Kaehny of Reinvent Albany told WNYC.

Kaehny filed a complaint with the Authorities Budget Office (ABO), a state agency that keeps an eye on other state agencies. Kaehny asked the ABO to examine whether MTA board members "have fulfilled their fiduciary duty by undertaking adequate oversight of activities and expenditures for Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s ongoing New York Crossings Initiative on the MTA’s bridges and tunnels."

Leadership at the ABO is appointed by the governor. 

But contrary to Reinvent Albany's concerns, MTA spokesman wrote in a statement that the towers "host cameras, traffic monitoring and other equipment related to security that would otherwise have been hosted by the former toll booth structures."

Kaehny asked why, if they were security installations they were never described that way in board documents or to the board.

MTA board member Charles Moerdler, chair of the Bridges and Tunnels committee, said it's not true that the board was unaware of the tower's true purpose. He said the MTA provides security for the public in a variety of ways. "To go into the detail in anyone of them is not in the public interest," he told WNYC. 

He didn't explain why the towers were referred to as "architectural enhancements" rather than towers for housing security equipment.

A spokesman for the governor's office declined to comment on whether the MTA misled the public about the purpose of the towers.