As the debate continues over who should pay for emergency subway repairs, MTA officials came under fire today from City Council members who are skeptical about the need for city money. NY1's Bobby Cuza filed the following report.

The City Council had no shortage of bones to pick with the MTA Tuesday. Among them were why MTA Managing Director Ronnie Hakim showed up to testify and not the more visible MTA chairman Joe Lhota.

"If he's going to be all over TV, carrying the governor's water and screaming and yelling about what we're not doing, I think he should be here," said City Councilman Jumaane Williams of Brooklyn.

"It's disrespectful," said City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito.

The Council speaker and others questioned why the city should split the cost of an $836 million subway action plan. They say the city already pays more than its fair share despite having minimal control over the MTA.

"I understand the MTA is a creature of the state and that you respond to the governor. But to make it seem that the governor is being so magnanimous and that this city is rejecting its responsibility, I'm not going to accept that," Mark-Viverito said.

Monday, the mayor proposed a millionaires' tax that could provide long-term funding but no short-term relief. It faces long odds in Albany. 

De Blasio's lobbying effort appeared to be underway Tuesday when he lunched with state Senate Republican Leader John Flanagan.

MTA officials called any potential funding helpful, but also took issue with figures showing the state has siphoned off more than $500,000 in MTA funding.

And while they detailed improvement plans, many council members went on the attack.

"You guys are unreliable, unresponsive, and you don't care about anyone except for your own jobs," said City Councilman Chaim Deutsch of Brooklyn.

On one issue, subway littering, a major cause of track fires, Mark-Viverito asked that public education precede any crackdown. One colleague disagreed.

"I do disagree with you having a community education program," said City Councilman James Vacca of the Bronx. "When tickets are given, the word will spread. And the garbage dumping on the tracks will stop."

The City Council has no direct control over the MTA but does have a say in city spending. Mark-Viverito says she supports a millionaires' tax, but whether the city might provide more immediate funding seems uncertain at best.