Joe Rogalsky, The Examiner
2007-04-25 07:00:00.0
Current rank: Not ranked

WASHINGTON -

The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority is an “organization out of alignment with priorities” and should eliminate 220 administrative jobs, according to a consultant Metro hired to review the transit system’s structure and operations.

Metro General Manager John Catoe will announce restructuring plans Thursday when he addresses the system’s board of directors.

The 220 positions include the 100 positions that will be eliminated as Metro’s construction division is phased out, a decision Catoe announced earlier this year.

Catoe commissioned the report from Gayland Moffat Consulting to help him erase the $116 million deficit in Metro’s operating budget for fiscal year 2008. The job cuts will save an estimated $22 million annually.

“WMATA’s business has changed from building to service provision, but [its organizational] structure has not kept up,” the report said.

The report suggests Metro has become much too dependent on overtime to meet staffing needs and should trim its overtime spending to help balance the budget. To solve this situation, the consultants recommend Metro hire more staff in the operating divisions, a move Catoe has said he is considering.

During the last 15 years, according to the findings, staff for bus and rail operations has decreased while administrative staffing has grown.

According to an internal audit report, Metro spent $70 million on overtime in fiscal year 2006 and is expected to spend approximately the same amount this year.

An analysis The Examiner published earlier this month found that 125 of Metro’s train and bus operators, plus scores of other hourly employees, earned more than $100,000 in fiscal 2006 thanks to hefty overtime payments.

In some cases, the overtime wages accounted for nearly half of an operator’s annual paycheck, meaning the employee is working significantly more than the usual 40 hours each week. Thirty operators took home more than $50,000 in overtime.

Overtime work costs Metro more than other regional transit agencies because the system’s retirement policy includes overtime payments when calculating pensions, a rarity in transit agencies elsewhere. The policy means Metro pays vastly higher pensions to employees than they would receive if their retirement payments were based on regular hourly earnings.

“Overtime is increasing and may have become institutionalized,” the report said.

jrogalsky@dcexaminer.com