All those years working for the government must be getting to New York Power Authority honcho Timothy S. Carey.
I guess when you are a handsomely paid shill for a massive quasi-governmental agency you say what you have to say, but does he really think wages paid to top employees in his organization are "much" lower than those found in private business?
Carey, who was hired in September to serve as the authority's chief operating officer, uttered such nonsense recently while attempting to justify wages paid to 160 or so authority employees who make more than $100,000 per year. Carey said most of the members of the authority's $100,000 club are engineers, technical experts and other skilled professionals needed to keep plants like the Robert Moses Power Project in Lewiston running smoothly.
While no doubt important to the day-to-day operations, suggesting they are somehow underpaid by private-sector standards doesn't hold up when you consider what the average person earns in New York and across the country.
Consider the 22 engineers who made the authority's $100,000 list. Federal labor statistics from May of 2004 list the average salary for all engineering and architectural positions in New York at $63,820. No classification of engineer earned an average salary of $100,000 or more. The closest categories were nuclear engineers and computer hardware engineers, whose average salaries were $92,000 and $87,710 respectively.
When compared to engineering salaries nationwide, the authority's pay scale still looks pretty good. The average engineer and architect in the United States made $59,480, and, again, no classification of engineer posted an average salary higher than $100,000. Health and safety engineers were closest with a mean salary of $97,190.
According to the New York State Comptroller's Office, the head executive at the authority earns $206,000 per year. Statewide, chief executives, who had the highest average salary among all job classifications in New York, earn on average $156,290 per year, or $49,710 less than the authority's highest-ranking official.
Carey may not agree with these numbers, but his background suggests that he himself has struggled for years to find a better deal in the private sector.
The longtime pal of Gov. George Pataki formerly served as a member of the authority's board of trustees. He arrived at the top of the organization's administrative chain after having spent six years working for another bloated quasi-governmental agency, the Battery Park City Authority in Manhattan. From 1995 to 1996, he was Director of Intergovernmental and Legislative Affairs in Pataki's administration. Before that, he served as the chairman and executive director of the New York State Consumer Protection Board and had five consecutive terms on the Westchester County Legislature.
His biography on the NYPA Web site mentions no real private sector experience. That shouldn't surprise anyone.
Having your name on the public payroll means never having to worry about getting a paycheck, having health insurance or collecting on a pension.
The same can't be said of the private sector these days. I'd love to see one of the authority's $100,000 employees test Carey's theory about better deals being available on the open market. It would be interesting to follow them as they trolled the want ads in New York looking for salaries in excess of $100,000 per year. Even better, have them look for the private-sector bonanza right here in Western New York. Many of our "skilled professionals" have found work dealing cards, driving tour buses and pitching products by telephone.
They don't receive six-figure salaries, but the wages they do earn are honest.
| Niagara Falls Reporter | www.niagarafallsreporter.com | Nov. 1 2005 |