{"article":{"id":250341,"heading":" NY-NJ bridge policeman earns $221,000","author":"CHRIS HAWLEY","created":"2011-12-12 23:07:57","modified":"2013-11-11 01:09:33","last_modified":"Mon, 11 Nov 2013 08:09:33","article":"

I think alleged Libertarian Mike Renzulli gets upset when I call them piggies. Renzulli says PIGS stands for Pride, Integrity and Guts. F*ck Renzulli, I consider then jackbooted thugs.

NEW YORK (AP) — A rank-and-file policeman at the George Washington

Bridge has made more than $200,000 so far this year, along with dozens

of other police officers for the agency that patrols New York City's

airports, the tunnels under the Hudson River and the new World Trade

Center site.

Payroll figures and names released for the first time Friday by the

Port Authority of New York and New Jersey show 66 police officers have

made more than $200,000 so far in 2011, thanks to overtime that in

many cases has doubled their salaries.

The bridge patrolman made $221,706. A sergeant on a special-operations

team pulled in $265,059. That puts him far above executives like

Aviation Director Susan Baer, who oversees three of the world's

busiest airports — JFK, LaGuardia and Newark — and two other airports.

She's made $237,971 so far this year.

The Port Authority Police Benevolent Association, the union that

represents most of the police, says the high overtime numbers are the

agency's own fault. President Paul Nunziato said the union has been

asking the Port Authority for years to hire more officers.

\"To me, it's absurd, and I've told them it's absurd,\" Nunziato said.

\"It's cheaper to hire another guy and pay his benefits than paying

someone 2,000 hours or 2,500 hours at time-and-a-half.\"

Earlier this week, Executive Director Patrick Foye said he hoped the

release of payroll figures and names would expose waste.

\"What you can measure you can manage,\" said Foye, who receives a

$289,667 yearly salary.

In a statement Friday, the Port Authority said it reviews salaries and

overtime costs on an ongoing basis, as well as ways to reduce

expenses. It said an ongoing review of its security operations will

help determine how best to \"deploy resources and patrol facilities.\"

But \"new overtime measures\" for 2012 will require more

\"quality-control review,\" the agency said.

The Port Authority operates New York City's airports, its seaports, a

train system, and several bridges and tunnels. It also owns the site

of the new World Trade Center.

Its finances came under scrutiny in August when the board approved

steep toll increases that outraged many commuters. The agency said it

needed to boost its credit-worthiness partly to finish the World Trade

Center. But the governors of New York and New Jersey ordered an

outside audit.

The Port Authority receives no tax money and funds itself through

tolls, rents, surcharges on airline tickets and other fees.

The special-ops sergeant who made $265,059 is the highest paid

policeman so far this year. His pay includes $115,394 in overtime.

Besides the aviation director's pay, it also outstrips Chief Financial

Officer Michael Fabiano's earnings of $257,814.

Another patrol sergeant assigned to the Port Authority Trans Hudson

Train system has made $256,000 this year, thanks in part to $133,565

in overtime.

The windfall also extends to rank-and-file police officers, most of

whom earn base salaries between $68,000 and $90,000 a year.

The patrolman on the George Washington Bridge boosted his $90,000

salary to $221,000 this year through overtime, differential pay and

other compensation, the figures show. Another patrolman has earned

$218,950.

Overall, the Public Safety Department and its 1,696 employees

accounted for $41.4 million of the $90.4 million the Port Authority

has paid out in overtime this year. The Port Authority has 6,777

employees.

The figures released Friday also showed how overtime boosted the

salaries of other employees. For example, 24 plumbers earn between

$49,000 and $78,000 in base pay, but they collected an average $14,500

on top of that this year. Many toll collectors boosted their base

wages of $58,916 to $85,000 or more this year with overtime.

Officers with the New York Police Department have long complained they

are poorly paid compared to the Port Authority police and suburban

police forces. The NYPD has about 35,000 officers.

\"At our current rate of pay, New York City Police officers are still

among the lowest paid big city police officers in the nation,\" said

Patrick Lynch, head of the New York City Patrolmen's Benevolent

Association, the city's largest police union.

Associated Press Writer Colleen Long and AP Researcher Julian Burgess

contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","contact":"","link":"http:\/\/www.google.com\/hostednews\/ap\/article\/ALeqM5j_Mz9QKvXDGYU1MBEXv1xmvRkPtQ?docId=e8a64b73eead4d8aa86ddf4a824fd3be","address":"","phone":"","parent_id":0,"mime_type":"text\/plain","summary":"Wow they sure pay piggies well! ","numcomment":0,"fileurl":"\/uploads\/","filesize":null,"article_url":"\/news\/2011\/12\/250341.php"},"attachments":[],"comments":[]}