MTA fixes carry quite a price tag

The MTA has racked up a hefty bill in its quest to rescue the subway from a state of emergency.

The agency’s payroll grew a whopping $418 million in 2018, according to a report published Tuesday by the watchdog group Empire Center for Public Policy. Their findings are compiled into a searchable database, which shows exactly how much each of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s 80,000 employees raked in last year.

The bulk of the extra costs can be attributed to a spike in overtime, which was up $119 million, or 16%, from 2017. Working for the agency in a leadership position also pays quite well: 256 employees made more than $250,000 in 2018, up from 150 in 2017.

Increased take-home pay is directly tied to improving subway service — the MTA spent $145 million on overtime related to the taxpayer-funded Subway Action Plan, according to MTA press representatives.

“Last year the MTA began making record levels of investments to repair, maintain and modernize the entire system, much of it at night to avoid service disruptions,” said agency spokesman Max Young. “Fortunately it is working, with subway on-time performance at five-year highs and gains across the system as well.”

The agency has also launched a series of cost-cutting measures mandated by the new state budget that passed at the start of April. The MTA has brought in consulting firm AlixPartners, which oversaw the restructuring of General Motors during the 2009 financial crisis.