8116/2014 103G(reen) thumb- NY Daily News 

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103G(reen) thumb 

This gardener rakes it in- along with 50 cops at 200G 

BY 2ERJAM~i£SSER 

['.tAt_ f NE'N<> STAFf \M'llrER I Tuesday, April24, 2007, 4:00AM 

Port Authority gardener Ralph Berlangleri, at Bloomfield, N.J., 

home. He tends grass at Newark Airport. 

AAA 

Ralph Berlangieri made 

$102,700 last year. He's not an 

executive or a lav.yer or an 

engineer. He's a Port Authority 

gardener >Mlo cares for trees, 

shrubs and flowers at Newark 

Airport. 

"I have a nephew'-llho has a 

college degree, and he doesn't 

make that kind of money," said 

Berlangieri, vklo has mrked for 

the bistate agency since 1975. 

"He told me he wants to get a 

job at the Port Authority." 

Berlangieri's base pay last year 

was $63,700. He added 

$39,000, mostly through 

overtime. 

"If they're going to offer it to me, 

I'm not going to turn it dovm," he 

said. 

Berlangieri's hefty take-home 

haul is hardly an aberration. A 

Daily Ne'NS analysis of Port 

Authority payroll records also 

found two cops v.ho made more 

than one-quarter million dollars 

each last year, an electriCian 

v.tlo pulled in $124,000 and a 

garage attendant v.hose total 

pay was $67,300. 

The records also show there 

were 19 gardeners on the books last year making an average of $76,000, 

including overtime and shift differentials. 

The agency has more than 6,200 full-time employees, vhlo averaged $71,900 

each in base pay last year. Records show that Wth all other forms of 

compensation added, such as overtime and differentials, the average annual 

pay jumped to $90,200 per employee. 

Some other annual average earnings by position, including overtime and other 

pay: 

Police-$116,700 

Electricians - $96,000 

http:/Aw.w.n~ai I ~e\rVS.comlnews/1 03g -reen-thumb-article-1.208886 

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115 
8116/2014 103G(reen) thumb- NY DailyNem 

Plumbers- $82,900 

Garage attendants- $62,600 

Toll collectors- $54,300 

Port Authority Executive Director Anthony Shorris adnitted that a gardener 

making $102,700 "sounds crazy" and said he has begun a review of 

compensation levels at the authority. 

"What really concerns me is the issue of overtime," said Shorris, 'Nho was 

appointed to the top job in January. 

last year, records show, the PA paid out $72.6 million in overtime. 

Shorris said he wants to be sure that overtime is being effectively managed by 

supervisors and that "individuals aren't gaming the system to drive up 

pensions." 

Top-paid individuals included police Sgt. John Rienzie ($270,200); Officer 

Frank Gato ($255,900); electrician John Manbrettl ($124,000); plumber John 

Santoro ($119,000); toll collector Clarence Tanksley ($86,700) and garage 

attendant Reginald Bowers ($67,300). 

The records show that Rienzie's base salary was $100,800, increased by 

$130,500 in overtime and $38,900 in other earnings, including differentials. 

Gate's base salary was only $80,500, according to the records. 

Port Authority records also show two "salad makers" on the payroll; they 

earned more than $40,000 each. A PA spokesman said the job Utle does not 

mean these !'NO only make salads, but are general cafeteria workers. 

In total, the Port Authority payroll topped $560 million last year, v.ith more than 

35% of all full-time employees topping the $100,000 mark. 

The agency is much more generous than local and state government 

employers. According to the federal Bureau of labor Statistics, the average 

full-time government W>rker in the New York area made $56,000 in base pay 

last year. 

"In general, I think this is because they are subject to less accountability and 

oversight," said E.J. McMahon, a fiscal policy analyst at the Manhattan Institute, 

a conservative think tank. 

Among the best-compensated group at the bistate agency are the more than 

1,600 cops who make up the Port Authority Police Department. 

Rienzie was the highest-paid employee in the entire authority last year, even 

topping then-Executive Director Kenneth Ringler, vffio made $268,400. Rienzie 

retired Jan. 27. 

And Rienzie, who did not respond to an interview request, was far from the only 

cop v.ho pulled in more than $200,000 last year- a total of 50 surpassed that 

milestone. 

\/Vhile most of those earning top dollar have been on the job for at least a 

decade, more than 200 officers hired in 2002 made more than $100,000 last 

year, including overtime. 

Gus Danese, president of the Port Authority Patrolmen's Benevolent 

Association, defended the compensation levels. 

"We're being underpaid," Danese said. "H should be more." 

Danese also claimed that PA management v.ould rather pay the overtime, 

v...tlich came in at $43 million last year for police alone, than hire additional 

officers. 

Port Authority generosity doesn't stop >Mth paychecks. Employees are part of 

http:/Jw...w.r.n}Uail~em.comlnews/1 03g-reen-thumb-articl e--1 .208886 

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8116/2014 103G(reen) thumb- NY Daily News 

the New York State pension system, IMlich counts overtime when determining 

pensions. 

According to pension records obtained by The News detailing the top 100 

earners in the system, 42 come from the Port Authority. Those 42 retirees each 

receive betwo:en $126,200 and $183,500 annually in pension checks. 

And the payments the Port Authority makes to the pension system to cover its 

employees have exploded. In 2002, the authority sent New York $10.8 million. 

Last year, that figure was $59.4million. 

"Vv'hen I go to retire," said the gardener Berlangieri, "I'll have a pretty decent 

pension." 

blesser@nydwlynev..s.com 

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