Since the Ravitch Report landed on the desk of Gov. David Paterson in December, “internal belt-tightening” has turned into an MTA buzzword. Throughout the build-up to the Doomsday budget and all throughout the transit fight in Albany, the MTA has proclaimed itself ready for cuts. These cuts could come in the form of fewer station agents, one-person train operations and fewer stations cleaners. While the agency has given lip service to the idea of cutting down its bureaucracy at MTA HQ, a new report begs to differ.
In a piece published in The Post on Sunday of a three-day weekend, James Fanelli reports that the agency has actually increased staff salaries at HQ by around $3.46 million. He writes:
Between March 2008 and March 2009, 140 directors, managers and other employees who work in the MTA’s main Madison Avenue offices received raises, according to a Post analysis of agency records. Of these bump-ups, 79 came without title changes.
In the same period, the Midtown HQ’s headcount surged by 43 staffers to 695, records show. The new hires included a $75,000-a-year photographer, a $117,000-per-year director of police support and a $134,204-a-year director of workforce development. Also, for $172,000 a year, it brought on a “chief diversity officer” who is supposed to help give contracts to minority-owned businesses. All were newly created positions.
Overall, payroll at headquarters rose 6.7 percent to $55.5 million.
Fanelli spoke to MTA spokesperson Ernest Tollerson about the increases, and Tollerson noted that many of them were cost-of-living increases. He also said that many of the new hires will help save money in the future.
It seems to me that this story is more about The Post riling up anti-MTA sentiments than anything else. The $3.5 million in increases represent less than one quarter of one percent of the MTA’s current debt, and the agency has to retain the workers who help move over eight million people a day.
At a time when the agency is working to convince its union to take a pay freeze, when the agency is raising fares, when the agency wants to cut station agents, this news looks bad. In a world in which failed CEOs earn tens of millions of dollars though, annual raises for mid-level workers is hardly a national crime. With an Albany-mandated audit heading the MTA’s way, we’ll see those bureaucratic cuts soon enough.
Graphic detailing the spending courtes of The Post.
2 comments
I agree, it’s more of an “optics” problem, but to those who can’t (or won’t) do the math, it’s an invitation to say, “See, we told you the fare hike wasn’t necessary.”
$3.5 million compared to $2.3 billion isn’t anything to get worked up over. Like the service cuts, which would have saved a few tens of millions, it’s pure optics.