Despite service cuts, Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) workers’ salaries have increased for a second consecutive year, according to a new report released this week. The MTA has countered that the raises were previously agreed upon.

The report was released by the Manhattan Institute along with the Empire Center for Public Policy. It also found that 10 percent of MTA’s workforce—or 8,074 people—made $100,000 or more.

The MTA has come under fire in the past several years for raising the price of a single-use MetroCard from $2.00 to $2.25, cutting the V train and the W train, and cutting dozens of buses.

The average total pay for MTA employees went up 2.4 percent in the last year, the report found. Close to 75,000 employees had their pays raised. More than 60 Long Island Railroad conductors made over $150,000 last year. The report found that many of these workers would work overtime, nearly doubling their base salaries. On average the conductors made an average of $86,837 over their base salaries.

Eleven LIRR repairmen, 28 MTA police officers, and 23 LIRR work-gang foremen made over $150,000 last year. For example, a LIRR repairman “earned an average of $167,342—which was $102,477 over their annual base pay rate of $64,865,” the report stated.

Overall, the agency paid out $100 million more last year than the year before, increasing the total payroll from $5.1 billion to $5.2 billion.

The MTA countered that the raises were already agreed upon and that the MTA is trying to slim down its agencies while going after workers getting too much overtime pay.

“The payroll data released today shows that over the past year the MTA reduced its work force and held down costs by forgoing management raises,” MTA spokesperson Kevin Ortiz said.

The MTA, which oversees LIRR, is looking at a more than $800 million budget deficit. Many LIRR trains have been already been cut.

Read article here