The top operator at the Port Authority grossed $90,762 in wages in 2005 -- $41,725 of it in overtime -- according to financial information released yesterday.

Five top administrators are being paid salaries that exceed $125,000 a year.

The transit agency yesterday provided 2005 wages for union employees, and a list of 2006 pay rates and salaries for all 3,058 full-time personnel, after previously refusing to reveal the information.

The figures were not significantly different than in 2003, the last year for which they were made available. The Post-Gazette had requested the information and published it as part of a special report in January 2005.

The authority's new information identified Ruthann M. Donnelly as the top-grossing operator in 2005.

No. 2 on the list was Karen R. Wright, a bus operator since 1988, whose W-2 form showed $89,906 in wages, including $37,299 in overtime. She also was the second highest paid operator to appear in the PG's last report, grossing $91,219 in 2003.

The highest paid operator from 2003, Charles W. Adams at $94,143, dropped to No. 5, with $52,535 in regular wages and $34,081 in overtime pay.

A total of 58 rank-and-file employees grossed more than $70,000 last year, most of them members of Local 85, Amalgamated Transit Union.

Another 229 union workers, most of them bus-trolley operators and route foremen, grossed between $60,000 and $70,000.

The top hourly rate for bus-trolley operators today is $22.18, ranking the Port Authority 24th nationally in union wages, and a half-cent-an-hour below the Philadelphia-based Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority.

"Some overtime is built into schedules, because it's less expensive to pay overtime than to replace someone in the middle of a route," Port Authority Chief Executive Steve Bland said. "And with funding up in the air, it's difficult to do proper manpower planning. You don't want to end up hiring people that you can't keep and foot the bill for benefits."

Management lost its top administrator, Paul Skoutelas, and replaced him with Mr. Bland, who, at a starting salary of $180,000 a year, is being paid about $30,000 less.

Other top-paid managers are Henry Nutbrown, assistant general manager for engineering and construction, $142,688; Steve Banta, assistant GM for operations, $137,286; Claudia Allen, the chief financial officer, $128,112; and Maureen Bertocci, the chief technology officer, $125,520.

Several news organizations, including the Post-Gazette, had filed formal requests for the information some time ago. Port Authority officials refused the requests, citing rulings by its internal legal staff.

The authority policy changed last month. When the authority promoted Christopher J. Hess to assistant general manager of legal and corporate services, it provided only a range of salaries for such a position. After the Post-Gazette complained to County Chief Executive Dan Onorato, he intervened.

The authority not only gave Hess' annual salary of $99,700, but it also started compiling the salary information that it released yesterday to media that made requests under right-to-know laws, including the Post-Gazette.

The top spots on the union payroll were not only below 2003 but 2001 as well, when two top operators grossed $103,318 and $95,552, respectively, and when the authority initiated a program to reduce overtime.