T hopes brass bonuses will boost performance
The MBTA’s No. 2 executive could score up to $25,000 in bonuses on top of his $250,000 salary for keeping the cash-strapped agency within its budget, reducing worker injury rates and seeing that the trains run on time.
The bonuses baked into Deputy General Manager Jeff Gonneville’s contract — detailed in documents obtained by the Herald through a records request — represent a new incentive strategy by the T to ensure performance by its top executives.
The Herald previously reported that newly tapped General Manager Luis Ramirez is also eligible for a 10 percent bonus on top of his $320,000 pay. He and Gonneville are the T’s only full-time employees with performance bonuses, a T spokesman said.
Gonneville said yesterday that former General Manager Brian Shortsleeve and state Transportation Secretary Stephanie Pollack, in promoting him to deputy this summer, “wanted to include various performance initiatives.”
Gonneville added, “These are good goals that certainly any manager would want to be able to achieve within their position.”
The bonus goals include bringing employee injuries down by 10 percent and lowering the number of derailments from seven in fiscal year 2016 — the T has led the country in light-rail derailments the past two years — to no more than four this year. It also includes holding the T’s operations budget to a $582.4 million bottom line.
The bonuses are also tied to subway and bus reliability. For example, on the Red Line, 74 percent of trips must be on-time while the Green Line must run on-time 67 percent of the time. For “key” bus routes, the goal is 78 percent.
As part of Gonneville’s three-year contract, the T also agreed to cover his tuition costs for a master’s degree in business administration.
Steve Poftak, a member of the T’s Fiscal & Management Control Board who was interim general manager when he signed off on Gonneville’s bonus package in August, called Gonneville’s specific bonus triggers “laudable and ambitious.”
“For a $2 billion operation, if we can hit those targets, I think that’s $25,000 well spent,” he said.
Apart from its two top executives, The T also has included bonuses in its deals with independent contractors running its Green Line Extension project.