By Yepoka Yeebo
DNAinfo Reporter/ Producer
MANHATTAN — More than 10 percent of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's workforce made at least $100,000 each in 2009, according to payroll data made public Wednesday.
The MTA, in a statement, attributed the six-figure salaries of more than 8,000 workers in part to built-in labor contracts and "unnecessary overtime."
The MTA payroll, which includes the names and salaries of over 70,000 employees, showed an average yearly increase of 2.4 percent, according to the file published by the Empire State Center for New York State Policy.
The MTA said that the 2.4 percent raises were built into labor contracts, and that payroll data showed that holding off on management raises and layoffs had made a difference. The MTA faces a budget shortfall of $800 million for 2010.
The highest paid MTA employee, a Long Island Rail Road employee named Helena Williams, earned almost $290,000, while 28 MTA police officers made more than $150,000 apiece.
"We are in the process of overhauling every aspect of our business, including the elimination of approximately 3,000 positions this year," said a spokesman for the MTA in a statement.
"One key part of this effort is a focus on the work rules, pension padding and management oversight that leads to some of the unnecessary overtime highlighted in today's report."
The Albany-based Empire Centre is a project of the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research.
