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- From: "eegenebradley" <http://profiles.yahoo.com/eegenebradley>
- Date: Mon, 25 Mar 2013 02:58:58 -0000
Words fail to describe the outrage I have for this article and in the salaries mentioned in the document. This appears to be where those "limited resources" go when it comes to adding new routes in Santa Clara County. --eugene http://www.scribd.com/doc/132162112/VTA-Salaries-for-2013 ========== FORWARDED ARTICLE ========== Palo Alto Daily Post - March 22, 2013 $100,000 to drive a bus VTA salaries soar - list inside Seventy-five VTA bus drivers made $100,000 or more last year, including one who made almost $200,000, according to payroll data obtained by the Post. That's a 257% increase in the number of bus drivers making more than $100,000 over the last four years. In 2008, before the Great Recession, 21 bus drivers made more than $100,000. The base pay for a VTA bus driver is $62,650, but when you calculate overtime and "other" pay, the average bus driver makes $86,000 a year - the same amount the average Palo Alto public schoolteacher makes and $18,000 more than the average teacher in Ca. Last year Kenneth Darden, the agency's highest-paid bus driver, made $191,210. VTA runs the county's bus and light rail systems, which transport, on average, 85,000 people every day (although that number counts people twice who use the bus to get to and from work). There are 316 employees in VTA's $100,000 Club, including 75 bus drivers and two light rail operators. VTA has 903 bus drivers and 18 have filed for disability and 14 are currently collecting workers compensation, according to a spokeswoman. Brandi Childress, who made $108,479 last year, said the authority only knows how many employees have applied for disability, not how many are actually receiving it. Michael Burns, VTA's general manager, is the organization's highest-paid employee. He made $303,016 last year. Burns' contract also includes an annual car allowance. Burns announced last month he would be stepping down at the end of the year after eight years as VTA's chief. He's followed by Chief Engineering Officer Mark Robinson ($220,907) and Chief Financial Officer Joseph Smith ($210,376). Bus Rapid Transit Carolyn Gonot ($197,015) the coordinator of VTA's rapid transit program, and Gary Miskell ($196,848), VTA's chief information officer, round out the top five highest-paid employees. Gonot is spearheading VTA's effort to build bus-only express lanes on El Camino [Real] from where-I-live to Palo Alto, effectively eliminating an entire lane of car traffic in each direction on the area's most congested road. The $250 million project has been hite with opposition from both Sunnyvale and Mountain View, which feared the change would push unwanted car traffic onto neighborhood streets. VTA employs 2,370 full- and part-time workers, most of whom receive a luxurious benefit package, including fully paid medical and dental insurance, up to six weeks paid vacation, 12 paid holidays, 12 sick days and a full pension. Employees and their families also receive free bus and light rail passes. Overtime Pay The transportation authority last year spent $5 million of its $161 million payroll on overtime pay. Koji Matsumoto ($149,261) and Phuong Mai ($161,239), both computer network analysts, received the most overtime pay of any employee - $52,339 and $51,856, respectively. Marc Palmquist, a transportation supervisor, retired in November and cashed out $55,510 in accrued sick and vacation pay, bringing his total pay for 2010 to $136,083. ========== END FORWARDED ARITCLE ==========
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