Over 200 Port Authority cops make six figures — including one $400K earner — from staggering OT pay
More than 200 Port Authority Police Department cops racked up six figures in overtime payments in 2023 — including one officer who pulled down over $400,000 in total pay, according to the agency’s latest available payroll records.
The surging compensation for the bi-state agency’s employees could ultimately drive up tolls for motorists, experts who crunched the agency’s eye-popping payroll warned.
“If this trend continues, especially with overtime, it will translate into higher costs, including higher tunnel and bridge tolls,” Ken Girardin, research director at Empire Center for Public Policy, told The The Post.
Last year’s overtime king was Officer Russell Polanco, a 16-year veteran who also was the Port Authority’s top overall earner with $410,376 in total pay.
His OT haul, totaling $238,236, was nearly double his base salary of $128,045.
Rick Cotton, executive director of the Port Authority, brought in just $290,051 last year.
“I didn’t want to make that list — I’m just a hard worker,” Polanco said when asked about his staggering earnings.
The overtime hog, who also earned $188,036 in overtime pay in 2022, referred all additional questions to the Port Authority Police Benevolent Association union.
Nipping at Polanco’s overtime windfall was PA Police Officer Calogero Bonello, who joined the agency in October 2008 and racked up $229,246 in OT last year, for total pay of $378,833, records show.
Police Officer Maroun Ibrahim landed $372,329 for all of 2023, including $212,647 in OT.
“Even by downstate police standards, the Port Authority police department appears to have an issue with overtime that requires serious attention,” said Girardin.
“Usually if one person gets $100,000 in overtime, management looks into it. Two hundred-plus cops getting $100,000 in overtime suggests management looking the other way.”
The rest of the Port Authority’s Top 10 list for overtime hogs last year included three other police officers and a sergeant, the aviation’s chief maintenance supervisor and a general supervisor, and operations services’ chief maintenance supervisor.
In all, 232 Port Authority police staff clocked over $100,000 worth of overtime, while OT pay across the entire department averaged $44,991, according payroll records.
The Port Authority’s total police overtime spending last year totaled nearly $96 million, a 14% increase from $84 million in 2022, and a 29% spike from $74 million in 2019.
Overall overtime at the Port Authority totaled $193 million, up 9 percent from $177 million in 2022.
Port Authority PBA President Frank Conti said the union has no control over department manning and deemed the cops’ excess overtime “a staffing problem.”
Seth Stein, a Port Authority spokesman, noted the infrastructure overseen by the agency is critical to region and often the target for major terrorists attacks, necessitating security around-the-clock security.
“Keeping the people we serve safe is nonnegotiable, and in the face of complex security challenges our dedicated police officers are often required to work overtime,” Stein said.
He added that the agency has hired 389 police officers over the past year and a half, which should help to reduce overtime costs
