Local
Metro expected to trim growing payroll
By: Kytja Weir
Examiner Staff Writer
January 2, 2009
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| The payroll budget for Metro staff, which includes most union positions, increased 5 percent from fiscal 2008 to 2009. (Examiner File) |
Having already instituted a hiring freeze, Metro officials say they may need to lay off workers as they grapple with next year’s budget.
Almost three-quarters of Metro’s expenses are tied up in personnel costs, representing $1 billion of its $1.36 billion operating budget for the current fiscal year.
Those costs have been growing. From fiscal 2006 to 2009, the overall payroll on the budget grew 16 percent, not including other benefits that employees receive such as pensions, health insurance and workers’ compensation.
Some of those payroll costs are relatively fixed because they are determined by the agency’s five union contracts, which cover about 75 percent of the agency’s staffers, Metro spokeswoman Candace Smith said.
The payroll budget for Metro’s wage earners, which includes most of the unionized positions, increased 5 percent from fiscal 2008 to fiscal 2009, which started July 1, after similar increases each year since the 2006 budget, according to an Examiner analysis.
But the payroll for salaried employees increased even more, growing 12 percent between the fiscal 2008 and 2009 budgets.
Smith said a portion of that budgeted increase was set aside for 92 new employees, including 28 transit police officers, 25 bus street supervisors and 11 operations control center members.
Some of that 12 percent rise also came from union contracts for transit police officers, who are paid salaries instead of hourly wages, she said.
The remainder of the increased salary costs came from a 5 percent raise for administrative employees approved by the board. That came just months after Metro levied higher fares on riders.
“That’s not unreasonable, compared to federal employees and when you consider the cost of living is going up,” said Metro board member Peter Benjamin, who was formerly the agency’s chief financial officer. “If we don’t keep up the salaries, we don’t end up with the quality people we need.”
But as the economic forecast has soured, Smith said, Metro officials decided to scale back those raises to 2 percent and plan to use the extra money in the next year’s budget.
Benjamin added that the approved budget also may not reflect what actually gets spent.
Metro has since instituted a hiring freeze to accommodate the worsening financial picture. And already the agency said its salaries and wages came in $2 million under budget and overtime costs are $1 million under budget for the fiscal year so far. There are still six months remaining before the 2009 budget ends June 30.
Yet Metro officials are preparing the 2010 budget and plan to present an initial proposal in the coming weeks.
Other transit agencies are facing similar financial pressures. Locally, Maryland’s MARC commuter trains are scaling back service next month, while New York’s subway system is considering major service cuts and a fare increase.
