TOP PAY FOR MTA OFFICIALS ADMINISTRATORS SET RECORDS FOR SALARIES.Byline: Troy Anderson Staff Writer Top officials of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority have set records for local government salaries with some executives getting low-interest loans, down payments for homes and other lucrative perks. MTA's top salaries are far higher than those paid in New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of or other big cities, but agency officials and transit experts defend them, saying the private transportation industry pays far more and offers even more benefit packages to recruit the best people. Critics suggest the $295,000-a-year salary paid to MTA (1) (Message Transfer Agent or Mail Transfer Agent) The store and forward part of a messaging system. See messaging system. (2) See M Technology Association. 1. (messaging) MTA - Message Transfer Agent. Chief Executive Officer Roger Snoble is a sign of the agency's desperation. ``You have to wonder what the MTA board of directors were thinking about when they offered that kind of salary,'' said Steve Frady, a senior fellow at the Rose Institute of State and Local Government In 1973, businesswoman, lawyer, feminist and activist Edessa Rose founded the Rose Institute of State and Local Government as a part of Claremont McKenna College to address issues specific to California’s state and local governments. at Claremont McKenna College A member of the Claremont Colleges, Claremont McKenna College is a small, highly selective, private coeducational, liberal arts college enrolling about 1100 students with a curricular emphasis on government, economics, and public policy. . ``It's a fairly low-profile board, and so they probably get bamboozled a little bit and think it's necessary to spend that kind of money. ``In some ways, they are probably looking for Looking for In the context of general equities, this describing a buy interest in which a dealer is asked to offer stock, often involving a capital commitment. Antithesis of in touch with. a messiah to solve their problems and take the heat off their backs and make their vision of mass rapid transit Noun 1. mass rapid transit - an urban public transit system using underground or elevated trains rapid transit public transit - a public transportation system for moving passengers in Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. County conform to Verb 1. conform to - satisfy a condition or restriction; "Does this paper meet the requirements for the degree?" fit, meet coordinate - be co-ordinated; "These activities coordinate well" a world view more appropriate for New York City New York City: see New York, city. New York City City (pop., 2000: 8,008,278), southeastern New York, at the mouth of the Hudson River. The largest city in the U.S. in the 1940s than Los Angeles in the 21st century. The fact is they are spending huge amounts of money on systems that don't move people around very effectively.'' MTA board member and county Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich Michael Dennis Antonovich (born 1939 in Los Angeles, California) is a member of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors representing the Fifth District, which covers northern Los Angeles County, the Antelope, Santa Clarita, Pasadena, and parts of the San Fernando and San said Snoble and Deputy Chief Executive Officer John Catoe, who makes $220,001 a year, are worth their salaries because they have developed a plan that will eliminate fat and result in substantial savings in administrative costs administrative costs, n.pl the overhead expenses incurred in the operation of a dental benefits program, excluding costs of dental services provided. at the agency. ``You have two top managers who operated transit systems efficiently in Dallas, Texas “Dallas” redirects here. For other uses, see Dallas (disambiguation). The City of Dallas (pronounced [ˈdæl.əs] or [ˈdæl. , San Diego San Diego (săn dēā`gō), city (1990 pop. 1,110,549), seat of San Diego co., S Calif., on San Diego Bay; inc. 1850. San Diego includes the unincorporated communities of La Jolla and Spring Valley. Coronado is across the bay. and Santa Monica Santa Monica (săn`tə mŏn`ĭkə), city (1990 pop. 86,905), Los Angeles co., S Calif., on Santa Monica Bay; inc. 1886. Tourism and retailing are important, and the city has motion-picture, biotechnology, and software industries. working hand-in-hand in developing a cost-effective transit system that will reach out to all 88 cities,'' Antonovich said. ``We will have a major decentralization de·cen·tral·ize v. de·cen·tral·ized, de·cen·tral·iz·ing, de·cen·tral·iz·es v.tr. 1. To distribute the administrative functions or powers of (a central authority) among several local authorities. in place that will cut fat and reduce the number of employees substantially so the number of dollars we have will go into transit services and not feed an overweight bureaucracy.'' Snoble, who came from the Dallas Area Rapid Transit The Dallas Area Rapid Transit authority (or DART) is a transit agency based in Dallas, Texas (USA) that operates buses, light rail, commuter rail, and HOV lanes in Dallas and 12 of its suburbs. It is the current largest light rail operator in the state of Texas. District last year, also gets $30,000 a year for his pension, a $12,000 housing allowance, $10,000 for vehicle expenses in addition to access to an MTA vehicle 24 hours a day. Close to president With a total compensation package of $347,000, Snoble is approaching the $400,000-a-year salary earned by the president of the United States The head of the Executive Branch, one of the three branches of the federal government. The U.S. Constitution sets relatively strict requirements about who may serve as president and for how long. . He's making 64 percent more than his predecessor, corporate turn-around specialist Julian Burke, who joined the MTA in 1997 and later took a 15 percent pay cut and passed on any pay increases. Burke took the job a day after the finalist for the job, New York City transit official Michael C. Ascher, turned down the offer when officials made public his demand for a $235,000 salary, not including a signing bonus A signing bonus or sign-on bonus is a sum of money paid to a new employee by a company as an incentive to join that company. These are often given as a way of making a compensation package more attractive to the employee e.g. if the annual salary is lower than they desire. of up to $100,000 to cover losses on the sale of his yacht. In comparison, the San Francisco Municipal Railway The San Francisco Municipal Railway, or Muni as it is commonly known, is the public transit system for the city and county of San Francisco, California. In 2000, it served 46. General Manager Michael Burns makes $203,585 and the New York City Department of Transportation Commissioner Iris Weinschall earns $162,800. ``The salaries of the highest paid staff members of the MTA are on par with those made by employees in similar positions at other public agencies as well as their equivalents in the private sector,'' MTA spokesman Gary Wosk said. ``In what is often a competitive labor market labor market A place where labor is exchanged for wages; an LM is defined by geography, education and technical expertise, occupation, licensure or certification requirements, and job experience , in order to retain the best qualified talent, those capable of meeting the challenge of solving Los Angeles County's transportation problems, the MTA believes it is important to offer competitive salaries and benefit packages. Salaries and benefits are based on a study which compares compensation in the private and public sectors.'' Bill Parent, assistant dean of the University of California, Los Angeles UCLA comprises the College of Letters and Science (the primary undergraduate college), seven professional schools, and five professional Health Science schools. Since 2001, UCLA has enrolled over 33,000 total students, and that number is steadily rising. , School of Public Policy and Social Research, said skilled people require rich economic incentives like those available in the private sector. ``It's what you need to do to get talent,'' Parent said. ``It's a tough problem for government now.'' Among the MTA's 10,000 employees, 24 make $125,000 or more a year. That's more than double the 10 who were members of the $125,000 club in 1997. Among those employees, the salaries of Dennis Mori, deputy executive officer for project management, rose 41 percent, from $90,896 to $127,936. Henry Fuks, deputy executive officer for project management, now earns $127,936, up 38 percent from $92,772. Both Mori and Fuks were promoted during that time. The lowest salary increase was 10 percent for Deputy Executive Officer of Engineering Joel J. Sandberg, whose salary rose from $128,269 to $140,907. On average, rank-and-file MTA employees received 12.4 percent in raises from 1997 to now, while there was a 12.8 percent increase in the cost-of- living during that period. ``All the noncontract people, including the executives making $125,000 a year or more, all get the same cost-of-living adjustments,'' MTA spokesman Marc Littman said. ``In the last 10 years, there were a couple of years we didn't get anything. The raises have been pretty modest. One year was 1.6 percent and another was 2.1 percent.'' Cars for executives Among the 24 six-figure earners, nine are assigned cars 24 hours a day. The MTA has a pool fleet of 276 vehicles, primarily 1991-2001 Chevrolet Luminas and Ford Tauruses, but also Safari and Windstar minivans, and Ford Ranger The Ford Ranger name is used on two distinct and unrelated pickup truck lines by the Ford Motor Company
``The cars can only be used for official business,'' Littman said. ``Some executives have cars assigned to them because they are on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week and may have to respond to bus accidents or other incidents.'' Among the more unusual perks some MTA employees get are loans and down payments for homes. The MTA lost hundreds of thousands of dollars after some of its top officials defaulted on properties and sold them at less than they cost in the 1990s. The MTA board decided to discontinue these types of housing relocation arrangements in 1996. The largest loss involved $250,000 invested in a Beverly Hills condominium on behalf of Leslie V. Porter, the former treasurer of the agency who defaulted on a private loan. Several employees have paid off their loans or have shared equity agreements. Inspector General Arthur Sinai, who makes $141,835 a year, received a $150,000 low-interest mortgage for his Pasadena home. He has since repaid the loan. Deputy Executive Officer for Operations Arcadio R. De La Cruz de la Cruz is a common surname in the Spanish language meaning 'of The Cross.'
``When the house is sold, the MTA gets 45 percent of the net sale price,'' Wosk said. Franklin White, the former chief executive officer of MTA who left in 1995, got a low-interest home loan of $550,000 from the MTA when he was hired. White repaid the loan when he sold his house a few years ago. ``The home loans are unbelievable,'' said Jon Coupal, president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association helped sponsor Proposition 13, the property tax-cutting initiative in California in 1978 which slashed property taxes by fifty-seven percent and initiated a national tax revolt. It was founded by California republican Howard Jarvis. . ``That is pathetic from a taxpayer's perspective. This is why people should be outraged. Nothing shocks me anymore, but this comes pretty close.'' Neil Silver, president of the Amalgamated Transit Union The Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) is a labor union in the United States and Canada, representing workers in the transit system and other industries. The ATU was founded in 1892, and today has more than 180,000 members in more than 273 local unions in 46 states and 9 , which represents MTA bus and rail mechanics, said he's tired of the MTA balancing its budget on the back of its rank-and-file workers. ``When you make that kind of money - $295,000 a year - it must be hard to make house payments,'' Silver said sarcastically. ``Our people make $40,000 or $50,000 a year and don't get housing subsidies. ``I guess it's tougher to make those mortgage payments at the top than it is at the bottom. I guess it depends on how many houses you own.'' Some MTA employees also get corporate life insurance policies, including Sinai, who has policies with face values of $98,701 and $10,911; Deputy Executive Officer for Program Management Jeffrey C. Christiansen, whose policy has a $100,000 face value, and Sandberg, whose policy has a face value of $100,000. ``These are faceless bureaucrats and technocrats who live in a world of construction, are paid enormous salaries and have no accountability,'' said metro rail critic John Walsh. ``As inspector general, Sinai is supposed to be looking for corruption. So the MTA buys him a house and a car. Is it any wonder he has not found corruption in the upper levels of MTA? The critics call him the invisible man. We've not heard him speak at MTA board meetings in years.'' Gilbert B. Siegel, professor emeritus at the University of Southern California's School of Policy, Planning and Development, said the MTA and its predecessor have always overpaid o·ver·pay v. o·ver·paid , o·ver·pay·ing, o·ver·pays v.tr. 1. To pay (a party) too much. 2. To pay an amount in excess of (a sum due). v.intr. To pay too much. their executives, particularly in their benefit packages. Siegel said when the Southern California Rapid Transit District and the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission merged in 1993 to become the MTA he conducted a salary survey. ``We surveyed benefits at comparable cities and recommended the MTA pay the median of what we surveyed,'' Siegel said. ``And, of course, they chose the highest salaries, which was New York City.'' MTA ADMINISTRATIVE SALARIES The following Metropolitan Transportation Administration administrators earn more than $125,000. Name - Title - Annual compensation Roger Snoble - Chief Executive Officer - $295,000 salary; $30,000 for pension; $12,000 for housing; $10,000 vehicle expense; company car. John Catoe - Deputy CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. - $220,001 salary; company car Gerald Francis - General Manager/Rail Operations - $175,000 salary; guaranteed vesting in state pension system David Armijo - General Manager - $168,000 Jack Gabig - General Manager - $168,000 Richard Rogers* - General Manager - $168,000 Richard Brumbaugh - Chief Financial Officer - $152,669 Maria Guerra - Chief of Staff - $150,001 Terry Matsumoto - Executive Officer/Finance - $146,178 Arthur Sinai - Inspector General - $141,835; home mortgage with MTA; company car Colonus Mitchell - Executive Officer/Programming - $141,521 Joel Sandberg - Deputy Executive Officer/Engineering - $140,907 James de la Loza - Executive Officer/Planning and Development - $133,881 Brenda Diederichs - Chief Labor Relations Officer - $132,876 Gary Spivack - Deputy Executive Officer/Operations - $130,443 Richard Hunt - Deputy Executive Officer/Operations - $130,166; company car Jeffrey Christiansen - Deputy Executive Officer/Project Management - $129,183 Arcadio de la Cruz - Deputy Executive Officer/Operations - $129,068 Paul Lennon - Managing Director, Safety and Security - $128,161 Henry Fuks - Deputy Executive Officer/Project Management - $127,936 Dennis Mori - Deputy Executive Officer/Project Management - $127,936 Carolyn Flowers - Executive Officer/Administration - $127,876 Joseph Buley - Senior Cost Estimator - $126,680 Antonio Chavira - Division Maintenance Superintendent - $125,394 *Rogers' starting date will be April 1. SOURCE: Metropolitan Transportation Authority CAPTION(S): box Box: MTA ADMINISTRATIVE SALARIES (see text) |
|
||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion