Dealing with the problem at the authorities

by: Jason Springer

Fri Feb 26, 2010 at 10:15:00 AM EST

Eight executive officers have base salaries higher than Gov. Chris Christie's $175,000.

There are 748 authority employees paid over $100,000 per year.

About half of the authorities reviewed didn't take part in the state furlough program requiring 10 unpaid leave days.

Several authorities have more paid holidays than the state; provide more generous vacation and/or sick leave; let employees annually "cash in" unused sick and vacation time; and reimburse employees for mileage at the federal rate of 55 cents a mile rather than the state rate of 31 cents.

"Why should the Turnpike Authority be excluded? Why should the Sports and Exposition Authority be excluded? It's all taxpayer generated money or money that rightfully belongs in the state treasury even though they are independent authorities."

While the number of employees at authorities has decreased over the last four years by 2002 employees and the majority have revised their policies to bring them in line with the state, there are still abuses in the system and much more work that needs to be done to reign in some of these authorities. You can see the full Inspector General's report here. In an effort to begin dealing with the problems, the Governor issued Executive Order 15 yesterday:

The governor's 15th executive order bans those public entities from hiring lobbyists to seek influence with his administration, the Legislature or the federal government. It also scales back generous severance packages and caps travel and entertainment expenses for authority employees at $250. Existing contracts permitting lobbying or "golden parachutes" for departing workers must be provided to the governor's office by March 1 and "terminated as soon as legally permissable," Christie said.