Their ship has arrived.
Records show 15 Staten Island Ferry employees became millionaires after cutting seven-figure salaries last year — including one who was infamously caught on camera falling asleep on the job. This includes a marine engineer who was injured and put the lives of passengers at risk.
This windfall comes thanks to the city finalizing a long-overdue union contract in September 2023, giving roughly 170 employees big raises and a huge lump sum payment for 13 years of back pay. .
City taxpayers pour in At least $108 million It's been one year since the famous free ferry that crossed New York Harbor from St. George to Lower Manhattan was born.
The biggest billionaire of the moment is Mark Tetonis, a chief marine engineer for 30 years who lives in a $1.8 million home in Bay Ridge. His base salary of $169,520 was reduced by $1,689,518 this fiscal year.
Timothy Wood, also a 30-year veteran and chief marine engineer, pocketed $1,559,299. In 2015, Kennedy made headlines after he was caught on camera nodding off to work while President John F. Kennedy's boat was docked during rush hour, resulting in a 30-day suspension and demotion. .
In 2018, a judge accepted the union's argument that “closing your eyes while on duty is not prohibited” and reversed the demotion of a sleepy sailor.
Tetnis did not respond to requests for comment. The woman who answered Wood's phone said she thought Wood was “not allowed to talk” about the seven-figure sale before hanging up.
The city paid a whopping $32.7 million alone to 30 active and retired chief marine engineers and project managers, according to a Post analysis. City salary data Fiscal year ending June 30th.
The bulk of the $32.7 million payout is comprised of back pay, lump sum bonuses, and fringe benefits (valued at $21 million).
Thirty past and current Department of Transportation employees earned more than $500,000 each, making them the highest paid city employees last fiscal year. 18 people became millionaires, including three retirees.
Ken Girardin, research director at the Empire Public Policy Center, said swabbing is “ridiculous on so many levels.”
“The contract has been in place for more than 10 years,” he said. “And the city auditor will not only be increasing the so-called prevailing wage, but it will be retroactive for 13 years — when David Paterson was still governor. , and back when “Homeland'' and “All My Children'' were still on TV,'' he said.
“Everyone rides the SS on payday.”
The spectacular depredations of chief marine engineers are largely due to the decisions of New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, who sets and enforces prevailing wage rates for city employees.
In March 2023, Lander has decided In 2010, a chief marine engineer would have earned $64.61 an hour, similar to an engineer in the private sector. I actually earned $40.32. — Salary increases to $79.71 by 2022.
Doug Kellogg, director of the State Project for American Tax Reform, said “it would appear” that those involved were “committing piracy in the same way that they are robbing New York taxpayers.” .
“The sad reality is that this system is simply rigged to favor the protectorate of public employee unions, whether they do their jobs or stay silent,” he says. “It is this waste and abuse that keeps taxpayers away and causes the city to face ongoing deficits of more than $10 billion.”
DOT spokesman Vincent Barone defended the impressive catch, saying it's not surprising for sailors who have endured years without pay increases.
“Our Staten Island Ferry crew members are essential workers who provide critical and safe service to more than 15 million passengers each year, while working without labor contracts for more than a decade,” Barone said.
Lander “determined the prevailing wages and benefits required by law, and the New York City Department of Labor Relations and the Marine Engineers Beneficiary Association negotiated contracts based on those determinations,” a spokesperson for the comptroller's office said. said Chloe Chick.
The contract is retroactive from November 2010 to January 2027 and will cost taxpayers $103 million, including $53 million in additional costs, officials said.
