Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
News
Port Authority's Overtime Costs Are As Absurd As Its Proposed Toll Hikes
By
Garth Johnston
Published Aug 18, 2011
Modified Aug 18, 2011
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
By
Garth Johnston
Published Aug 18, 2011
Modified Aug 18, 2011
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
The Port Authority's board votes on the proposed toll and fare hikes tomorrow and while most pols seem to agree that there will be some kind of hike (if not necessarily a huge one), that doesn't mean that opponents of the idea aren't going down without a fight. And helping the cause is New York's own comptroller, Thomas DiNapoli, who has released an incendiary audit [PDF] of the PA's overtime costs. Does $459.2 million in overtime over four years seem a little high to anyone else?
"Overtime flows like water at the Port Authority and management has no clear strategy to achieve its own benchmarks and goals for curbing costs," DiNapoli said in a statement. "Every agency in this state is tightening its belt. Before the Port Authority asks for more money to fund its operations, the agency should take a long, hard look at whether its business model for managing overtime really makes sense."
The PA's overtime problem is nothing new—its 2010 budget even promised to reduce it by 20 percent—but it is breathtaking. The majority of the overtime comes from two departments, PATH and the Public Safety Department, which have accounted for 66 percent of the overtime paid out between 2006 and 2010:
In those two departments in 2009, 24 employees had overtime earnings that exceeded 100 percent of their respective salaries. One employee earned a base salary of $107,878 and made an additional $153,530 in overtime, an average of 34 hours per week of overtime. Overall, 281 PA employees made more than $50,000 in overtime, 66 made more than $75,000 and 18 earned more than $100,000 in overtime in that same year. 77 PA employees had combined overtime and base salary compensation in excess of $175,000.
And as for that promise to keep overtime down? Though the PA's 2010 goal was for each department's overtime to max out at 15 percent of employees' base salaries, it didn't quite work out that way. In the Public Safety Department that percentage ended up being more like 35.5 percent, while PATH employees' overtime averaged to 26.4 percent of base salaries. In total, there were 1,573 Public Safety Department and PATH employees who were paid overtime that exceeded management's benchmark.
So how is the Port Authority responding to the audit? "The Port Authority just received this report and we take it very seriously," the agency said in a statement. "We will continue to cut costs and make sure we value every dollar as we work to meet the region's needs." But first they'd like to take a whole lot more money from local commuters, thank you very much. Just in case that pisses people off further, speculation has it that the agency is planning to rush through an as-yet-undetermined project so as to prove that the hikes are doing something. We'll believe it when we see it.
Tagged
audit
path fare hike
port authority
thomas dinapoli
toll hikes
Garth Johnston
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE news
Plan to modernize NYC's diesel-spewing produce market falls apart under Mamdani
Bronx officials are scrambling to try to salvage a transformative project worth $650 million.
By
Elizabeth Kim
Published Sep 29, 2026 at 6:00 a.m. ET
Central Park birders, others remember 63-year-old woman killed in park
People who said they knew her described her as an artist and a familiar presence in the Ramble.
By
Charles Lane
News
Central Park birders, others remember 63-year-old woman killed in park
People who said they knew her described her as an artist and a familiar presence in the Ramble.
By
Charles Lane
Dump truck driver hits and kills cyclist on 34th Street in Midtown, NYPD says
By
Liam Quigley
New ingredient mandated for Latin American kitchen, restaurant plates in NJ
By
Arya Sundaram
A Brooklyn jail cell filled with smoke. The emergency button failed, a lawyer said.
By
Samantha Max
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .