UTA salaries see sharp increase following secret survey

[Sombeech]

http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=148&sid=10811299



May 17th, 2010 @ 9:55pm
By John Daley
SALT LAKE CITY -- High pay for top executives at the Utah Transit Authority has grabbed recent headlines. KSL News has discovered the salaries are based, at least in part, on a survey UTA conducted to make sure the pay scale was competitive. The problem is UTA won't make that salary survey public.
For some reason, in the mid-2000s, running the railroad became much more rewarding, according to UTA records obtained by KSL.



For example, in 2005, then Assistant General Manager Mike Allegra was making $177,000. By 2009, his compensation soared 32 percent to $260,000. UTA says his duties changed, though UTA records show his title did not.
General Counsel Bruce Jones saw his total pay balloon 32 percent in one year to $250,000.
UTA's top man, General Manager and CEO John Inglish, was paid $330,000 in 2005. For the next five years, he was paid a similar sum, until 2009 when it jumped to nearly $350,000.
UTA tells us the pay increases were based on a salary survey that showed the pay levels were reasonable, given all of the duties of UTA executives.
"I am comfortable with it, yes," Inglish said in a recent interview with KSL News. "I think the public is entitled to best management and leadership that can be provided."
We don't know exactly what that salary survey shows because UTA has declined to make it public, calling it "proprietary" and a "trade secret" as defined by Utah law.
But we do know this: The employee responsible for generating the report saw her pay rise at a double-digit clip, 19 percent, to nearly $117,000.
Longtime government watchdog Claire Geddes calls UTA's executive compensation a "gravy train," particularly during a recession when routes are being cut.



"We're seeing people get absolutely wealthy off of this public money, and I think that outrages people more than anything," Geddes says.
But UTA's board chair says UTA operates like a private business and competes with private business for top employees.
"In this area, the common person on the street would look at it and say,