MTA cops' salaries may surpass NYPD's
Deal
would zoom MTA cops' salaries past NYPD's
BY PETE DONOHUE and ALISON GENDAR
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
January 19, 2008
Cops who patrol Metro-North Railroad and Grand Central Terminal
will earn more than their NYPD counterparts under a tentative contract
reached this week, sources said.
The 62-month pact would raise starting salaries for roughly 650
cops with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority from about
$33,000 to $40,000 by the end of the pact.
The deal also would increase the MTA's maximum base salary for
its officers from $68,781 to $84,011 during the life of the agreement,
sources said.
MTA spokesman Jeremy Soffin confirmed there was a tentative deal
that would run from August 2006 through October 2011. He declined
to release details.
Sources said the pact carried a 19.15% increase, plus a $936 salary
bump this year. Rank and file and the MTA board are to vote on
the deal in the coming weeks.
The MTA agreement is similar to the offer that was on the table
between City Hall and the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association, the
NYPD's largest union.
City officials said their last offer to the PBA would have raised
the starting salary from $25,100 to $37,800 and the maximum base
salary from $59,588 to $63,309.
City Hall and the PBA have not been able to agree on a contract,
and it's now in arbitration. The NYPD's paltry starting salary
was imposed by an arbitration panel in 2005.
Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly and PBA President Patrick Lynch
have called for both starting and regular salaries to be raised.
MTA cops patrol Metro-North, Grand Central, Long Island Rail Road,
the Staten Island Railroad and Penn Station. The tentative deal
was reached in time to act as a recruiting incentive for the MTA's
April police exam. The deadline to apply is Feb. 15.
agendar@nydailynews.com
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