People express outrage and call for changes every time the media disclose Port Authority union and management pay.

The frustration is understandable, considering the hundreds of millions of tax dollars spent every year to subsidize an agency perpetually threatening riders with higher fares and reduced service. Not to mention the lousy attitude of some employees.

		Construction around the region: 10/22/06

After lawyers had decreed for two years that the authority did not have to make pay information public, county Chief Executive Dan Onorato intervened and ordered them to disclose it.

In the end, the legal beagles' refusal to comply with right-to-know laws was a public relations gaffe, because when salary and overtime info for all 3,058 employees finally was released, it created a media frenzy.

An Oct. 14 article about the pay in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette generated plenty of feedback, some good, some bad, some misdirected, some ill-founded.

One e-mail came from Cleatos Andre.

"Mr. Grata, do you realize that in order for Port Authority drivers to make all the overtime money that you speak of, they live at the bus garage. You are not painting a correct picture. You are penalizing someone willing to work long, hard hours."

Ms. Andre, as you might suspect, is a bus driver. She works out of the West Mifflin Division garage. She has been employed by the transit agency since 1998. Last year, her gross pay was $55,783, including $5,154 in overtime. And she's tired of getting yelled at by riders who think everyone makes big bucks like a fellow bus driver, Ruthann M. Donnelly, who grossed $90,762 last year, $41,725 in overtime, and who led the pay parade.

"They get this information from people like you who don't tell of [workers] who don't get the top rate for five to six years. Look into that and include that in your next article," she said.

I'll try.

The Port Authority pays what some might call Wal-Mart wages to only a small number of people, including 35 student operators learning to drive buses and "service trainees" learning to clean buses.

The base wage for these newcomers is $17,680, or $8.50 an hour.

Thirteen security officers who guard authority property and equipment receive between $21,744 and $23,400 a year.

"Currency unfolders," or people who count coins, currency and tickets deposited in fare boxes, get from $20,364 to $27,152.

Otherwise, most other hourly people on the payroll receive base wages that are competitive with private-sector workers and transit peers around the nation.

The base salary of 106 bus-trolley operators at the low step of the graduated pay scale is $29,993.

Nine office secretaries at authority headquarters at the Heinz Building, Downtown, are paid $30,846.

A total of 369 operators, repairmen, mechanics, customer service representatives and similar personnel receive between $30,908 and $36,000 a year.

The single biggest wage category is bus-trolley operator at the top hourly rate, 1,166 of them at $46,134 a year, which breaks down to $22.18 an hour, not counting shift differentials and premiums for things such as holiday duty.

In addition, 581 mostly mechanics and maintenance people work at a slightly higher scale of between $46,176 and $47,611 a year in base wages.

When you tally the numbers, 2,696 employees, about 88 percent, are scheduled to receive $50,000 or less in base wages or annual salary this year. Another 188, about 6 percent, are union route foremen and first-level supervisors with a base wage of $52,628.

Sounds reasonable. But that's not the whole story, because almost every hourly employee gets overtime pay.

Some is built into schedules. Some is necessary because of accidents, weather, special service and unforeseen circumstances. Some is at the discretion of management, which deems it cheaper than hiring more people. Some is attributed to workers who play games to deliberately force overtime.

So when overtime is included, half of all employees took home W-2 forms with gross earnings near, at or above $50,000 last year. Even an off-board fare collector, Bill Annesi, boosted his $36,100 regular pay to $65,230 by racking up $29,130 in overtime.

Fifty-nine union employees grossed between $70,001 and $90,762; 229 grossed between $60,001 and $70,000; and 967 grossed between $50,001 and $60,000, including Ms. Andre.

Wage increases and overtime will push as many, if not more, into the $50,000-plus category again this calendar year.

Combined with a lucrative benefits package and early retirement, lifetime health care insurance and big pensions, authority jobs are some of the most financially rewarding in southwestern Pennsylvania.

I know dedicated authority employees who love their work. I also know employees who hate their work but love the money.

Maybe I should have been working for the Port Authority for the past 35 years instead of writing about it.

P.S.: Forty administrative employees gross $75,000 or more, including lawyers and engineers. The bucks stop at the top with Steve Bland. He collects $180,000 a year as chief executive officer. If I don't mention management, I'll hear from malcontents.

Elsewhere. Preliminary engineering is beginning on a $7.2 billion project to build twin 4.1-mile rail tunnels beneath the Hudson River to link New Jersey commuters with midtown Manhattan.

Plate du jour. Peter Kracht, of Pittsburgh, spotted the Pennsylvania personalized license plate LOSTEXN in Connoquenessing Township. Sure sounds like it.