Eight MTA workers made more than $200,000 in overtime alone last year, part of a general surge in agency overtime in 2016, according to a new report.
The Empire Center, an independent, not-for-profit think tank based in Albany, released its latest table of public payrolls for MTA employees on SeeThroughNY.net Monday.
The top earner in the MTA was Ralph K. Golden, a track foreman for the Long Island Rail Road who made a total of $360,978. His base pay is $104,822.
Golden, along with fellow LIRR track foremen Joseph M. Ruzzo and Joseph J. Biondo, outearned then-MTA chairman and CEO Thomas F. Prendergast, who received a salary of $346,707.
MTA spokeswoman Beth DeFalco said in a statement, "Many of the jobs listed are highly specialized, can't be performed by entry-level employees and are essential to operating a transportation network around the clock, every day of the year."
"The alternative to overtime for these specialized jobs would be to have more employees at a higher cost to the MTA and riders," she said.
The amount that certain individuals earn is governed by collective bargaining agreements, DeFalco said, and there are checks and balances in place to monitor and minimize non-essential overtime.
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The MTA spent $971 million on overtime in 2016, up 4 percent from the year before, according to the Empire Center. Of the more than 77,000 MTA employees in 2016, 177 received overtime pay of $100,000 or more. That included 112 employees of LIRR, where average overtime pay rose 10 percent.
DeFalco says the MTA has cut more than $1.6 billion in annual expenses since 2010 as part of its efforts to control costs.
See more of the payroll data here.
