T’s payroll move to state system brings ‘organization’

The MBTA’s payroll has been moved under the state’s system in a move to open up the books at the beleaguered transit agency, according to the comptroller.

“This brings organization to an environment that lacked organization,” state Comptroller Thomas G. Shack III told the Herald last night.

“This is holding people accountable,” he said, adding that having the state do the T payroll also saves about $1 million a year.

The move comes as the T is trying to control overtime. The comptroller site updates overtime costs for all to see a few days after employees are paid.

As the Herald reported last weekend, nearly onethird of T employees raked in more than $100,000 last year — an increase of 18 percent from 2016.

Green Line operators pulled in $2 million in additional pay last year, according to MBTA records posted to the comptroller’s site.

The Green Line has 413 “streetcar motorpersons” operating trains, according to financial records. They earned about $29.4 million in base pay last year, but $31.5 million in total pay, including overtime.

The maximum base salary operators earned was $75,337, but 25 cracked six figures in total pay. The highest-paid operator, records show, pulled in $184,612, followed by a driver who took home $176,415.

Total payroll for the T last year was $552.3 million, a drop from $563 million in 2016, records state.

Shack said the goal is to keep an eye on T spending to ferret out “graft” and poor scheduling.

T spokesman Joe Pesaturo, who earned $111,331 last year, said the agency does list Green Line streetcar drivers’ salaries under the new system.