MTA overtime budget hits $397 million in 2006
MORE MTA STAFFERS RIDING MONEY TRAIN
By BRUCE GOLDING
November 4, 2007 -- As the MTA fights for a fare hike, the number of agency workers who took home more than $100,000 last year jumped 37 percent - as the agency paid a total of $397 million in overtime.
One train dispatcher raked in more than $120,000 in overtime alone, The Post has learned.
Michael Woodhouse, an $85,000-a-year Long Island Rail Road employee, made a total of $217,114.91 last year, eclipsing even LIRR President Raymond Kenny, who made just over $205,000.
Woodhouse, 41, was among three LIRR workers who made more than $100,000 in overtime last year, according to records reviewed by The Post.
Woodhouse, who clocked 1,788 hours of OT last year, couldn't be reached for comment.
Other findings from The Post's review include:
* Former LIRR President James Dermody, who retired in September 2006, walked away with $467,137.23 in compensation. The haul was based on his $215,000 salary, $3,500-a-month housing allowance and unused vacation and sick days from his 48 years with the railroad.
* Five subway "stationary engineers," who operate power, heating and ventilation equipment, took home more than $200,000 each. The top earner, Jerry Guilford, collected $249,318. Nationwide, median pay for the job is about $44,000, according to federal statistics.
* The number of MTA employees with base salaries exceeding $100,000 rose to 1,793 last year from 1,403 in 2005, a 28 percent jump. By comparison, the number of New York City workers with salaries over $100,000 rose only 6 percent during the same time.
* Overtime payments helped push the number of employees taking home more than $100,000 to 4,382 in 2006, up from 3,209 the year before - an increase of 37 percent.
At the LIRR, overtime pay boosted 656 workers past $100,000 in earnings, compared with 205 who made that much in straight salaries. At Metro-North, the numbers were 240 through overtime and 226 from salaries.
Critics have long attacked the fiscal management of the MTA, which plans to raise fares on subways, buses, trains and bridges next year. It proposes a base fare hike from $2 to $2.25.
Gene Russianoff, of the Straphangers Campaign, said that while he couldn't blame the fare hikes on the ballooning pay packages, "they lead to resentment from the riding public."
"Obviously, there's a huge difference in income between the people who take the subways and buses and the people who run them," he said.
Gary Dellaverson, the MTA's chief financial officer, said several factors pushed up the transit-system payroll last year, including "salary creep" caused by raises that averaged 3 percent and retroactive wages paid to subway workers under their contract deal.
The MTA also added more than 1,700 workers last year through the merger of several bus companies that formerly operated under franchise deals with New York City, he said.
Dellaverson added that the "spikes" of overtime at the LIRR were the result of contract rules dating to the early 1900s that give senior employees first crack at available OT.
By BRUCE GOLDING
November 4, 2007 -- As the MTA fights for a fare hike, the number of agency workers who took home more than $100,000 last year jumped 37 percent - as the agency paid a total of $397 million in overtime.
One train dispatcher raked in more than $120,000 in overtime alone, The Post has learned.
Michael Woodhouse, an $85,000-a-year Long Island Rail Road employee, made a total of $217,114.91 last year, eclipsing even LIRR President Raymond Kenny, who made just over $205,000.
Woodhouse, 41, was among three LIRR workers who made more than $100,000 in overtime last year, according to records reviewed by The Post.
Woodhouse, who clocked 1,788 hours of OT last year, couldn't be reached for comment.
Other findings from The Post's review include:
* Former LIRR President James Dermody, who retired in September 2006, walked away with $467,137.23 in compensation. The haul was based on his $215,000 salary, $3,500-a-month housing allowance and unused vacation and sick days from his 48 years with the railroad.
* Five subway "stationary engineers," who operate power, heating and ventilation equipment, took home more than $200,000 each. The top earner, Jerry Guilford, collected $249,318. Nationwide, median pay for the job is about $44,000, according to federal statistics.
* The number of MTA employees with base salaries exceeding $100,000 rose to 1,793 last year from 1,403 in 2005, a 28 percent jump. By comparison, the number of New York City workers with salaries over $100,000 rose only 6 percent during the same time.
* Overtime payments helped push the number of employees taking home more than $100,000 to 4,382 in 2006, up from 3,209 the year before - an increase of 37 percent.
At the LIRR, overtime pay boosted 656 workers past $100,000 in earnings, compared with 205 who made that much in straight salaries. At Metro-North, the numbers were 240 through overtime and 226 from salaries.
Critics have long attacked the fiscal management of the MTA, which plans to raise fares on subways, buses, trains and bridges next year. It proposes a base fare hike from $2 to $2.25.
Gene Russianoff, of the Straphangers Campaign, said that while he couldn't blame the fare hikes on the ballooning pay packages, "they lead to resentment from the riding public."
"Obviously, there's a huge difference in income between the people who take the subways and buses and the people who run them," he said.
Gary Dellaverson, the MTA's chief financial officer, said several factors pushed up the transit-system payroll last year, including "salary creep" caused by raises that averaged 3 percent and retroactive wages paid to subway workers under their contract deal.
The MTA also added more than 1,700 workers last year through the merger of several bus companies that formerly operated under franchise deals with New York City, he said.
Dellaverson added that the "spikes" of overtime at the LIRR were the result of contract rules dating to the early 1900s that give senior employees first crack at available OT.