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NEW YORK 

Port Authority to Cut Bonuses 

By TED MANN 

Updated March 29, 201212:01 a.m. ET 

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey plans to eliminate millions of dollars' worth 

of bonuses and other benefits for its nonunion employees, a gesture of reform at an agency 

under pressure from two politically ambitious governors to rein in spending. 

The move is expected to save $41 million over the next 18 months. It also marks an initial 

attempt to change the image of an agency long perceived as wasteful and disorganized. 

Under the authority plan, which is expected to be approved by the Board of Commissioners 

on Thursday, nonunion employees at the bistate agency will have to contribute to the cost of 

their health-care premiums for the first time. 

They also will lose a host of "add-ons"-including bonuses for longevity and good 

attendance-that have long boosted the salaries of even highly paid executives. And they 

will no longer be able to cash in unused vacation time in an effort to increase pension 

payouts. 

"Is it a signal to people within the agency? Absolutely. Is it a signal to people in the region? 

Absolutely. But it's also not just a signal. It's very real," one high-ranking agency official said. 

The effort comes after a recent audit-ordered by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and New 

Jersey Gov. Chris Christie-branded the agency's previous management as "dysfunctional" 

and sharply criticized the agency's organization, including its compensation structures. 

The agency's pay levels have been a sore spot. Port Authority Chairman David Samson 

directed the authority to begin publishing the agency's full salary information on its website 

last year after an investigation by the Bergen Record into the perks and benefits that many 

managers enjoyed. The Record also highlighted dozens of cases of alleged political 

patronage within the agency's ranks. 

"It's certainly an encouraging sign that they are undertaking this on their own," said New 

Jersey Assemblyman John Wisniewski, the Democratic chairman of the Transportation 

Committee and a frequent authority critic. 

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"It certainly does not mean that there isn't more to look at and more that can be improved," 

Mr. Wisniewski said. "It's going to be an ongoing effort to change the culture of the Port 

Authority on behalf of the people who pay for it." 

The changes in health-care contributions will affect most of the agency's 2,250 nonunion 

employees. Workers hired after 2005 already cover some of the costs of their premiums. 

Employee contributions begin next month and will be phased in over four years, with the 

highest-paid workers eventually paying 35% of their premiums by 2015. 

Extending the reach to the agency's rank-and-file, the board is also expected to approve a 

resolution that would seek to make health-care contributions mandatory for its 4,500 union 

workers, similar to what is required of many public-sector workers in New York and New 

Jersey. But those payments would have to be negotiated with union leaders in future 

contract talks. 

Paul Nunziato, president of the Port Authority Police Benevolent Association, declined to 

comment. A woman who answered the phone at Transit Workers Local 1400, which 

represents some authority workers, said union leaders weren't available. 

Hundreds of nonunion employees will be affected by the other changes. The disappearing 

benefits include the right to cash in vacation days and use the resulting bump in pay to pad 

future pension calculations; a "longevity bonus" phased in after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist 

attacks to retain staff workers; and a small cash payment that has been paid for decades to 

employees who first accepted it in lieu of a salary increase in 1969. 

Some of the perks affect relatively small numbers of employees but are the type that can 

irritate taxpayers and drivers asked to pay higher tolls. Twenty-two high-ranking officers in 

the Port Authority police department, for instance, can earn "cumulative retirement days" for 

good attendance. That bonus will be eliminated. 

Officials argued that the cumulative value of the cuts is meaningful for a $7 billion agency 

that faces immense construction projects-from completing the World Trade Center 

reconstruction to raising the height of the Bayonne Bridge-amid little political appetite for 

raising new revenue through tolls or fare hikes. 

The authority is following a directive from Messrs. Christie and Cuomo to find "efficient, yet 

equitable, revisions to compensation and benefit standards so as to bring them in line with 

appropriate public employee levels," Mr. Samson said. 

Mr. Samson indicated the authority planned additional, similar measures. 

Some of the other perks the leadership now seeks to strip away are small-bore. But they hint 

at the ways in which Port Authority compensation has seemed to hover above even the 

levels of other public agencies in the region. 

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Pmt Authority to Cut Bonuses- WSJ Page 3 of3 

The Port Authority will also cut out most of the free PATH rail passes used by staff workers, 

family members and retirees next month. In addition, the agency will end the so-called death 

gamble, a benefit extended in 2001 to employees hired before July 1973, intended to match 

the value of supplemental life insurance, dissuading them from retiring. 

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