SALT LAKE CITY -- The Utah Transit Authority defended the salaries of its top managers Wednesday, saying it follows compensation practices accepted throughout the transit industry.
At a UTA board meeting in Salt Lake City, new UTA General Manager Mike Allegra said agency salaries are market-based and determined by a process that includes compiling local and regional data from the public and private sectors, nonprofit organizations and the national transit industry.
Allegra said UTA's salary structure is the average of the market-based analysis and applies to everyone at UTA from executives to clerical workers.
"There has been much discussion recently about compensation and how salaries are set at UTA," Allegra said. "UTA has a very structured process, based on industry-accepted compensation practices, for setting administrative employee salaries."
Allegra noted that a compensation audit is conducted annually on the agency.
"I am confident in reassuring the board that UTA's salaries are completely in line with legitimate market data," he said.
Jill Carter, a human resources consultant who works with a number of government and private sector agencies, conducts UTA's compensation audits and said the agency's market comparisons are fair and represent industry practices.
"Everyone thinks they are a compensation expert," Carter said. "But it's a science. It's data oriented and mathematical -- it's not just shooting from the hip."
Salaries of top UTA officials have been a hot-button topic recently.
New Chief Executive Officer John Inglish saw a $20,000 pay raise in 2009, while General Counsel Bruce Jones saw a recent 32 percent pay increase in one year. Allegra saw a pay increase from $177,000 to $260,000 in a few years.
At the board meeting, UTA also swore in new officers, officially making Inglish the agency's new chief executive officer, Allegra the new general manager and Bruce Jones the new president of government resources.
Comments