The Utah Transit Authority has a public relations problem, and that is one reason the timing and structure of its newly revamped benefit system for top executives is so unfortunate.

When people believe the agency misallocated funds — a belief based partly on a legislative audit three years ago that was critical of extra compensation for senior officials and partly on an ongoing federal investigation into transit development deals — it's not surprising that many feel the agency is tone deaf to pass the kind of package the board recently approved.

The new retirement benefits plan reduces what top executives receive but still matches their retirement contributions at a rate three times what regular employees receive. State employees, by contrast, receive the same package across the board, regardless of title.

Board member and North Ogden Mayor Brent Taylor is being called a maverick because he was the only one to speak against this plan. Others argued the agency won’t be able to attract or retain top executive talent if it offers less. We sympathize with this reasoning, but the argument misses a larger point.

The concern about UTA leadership reaches to Utah’s Capitol Hill, where a legislative task force is considering three options for revamping the agency, including having the state completely take over and run it. Keeping UTA as it is was not an option under consideration at the last task force meeting, and that speaks volumes.

This concern over administration creates an interesting paradox. Over the last 20 years, UTA has created a mass transit system along the Wasatch Front that is the envy of many larger metropolitan areas. Light rail lines now extend from Draper and the Daybreak subdivision in the south to the international airport and the University of Utah in the north, with many stops and options in between. Frontrunner, a heavy commuter rail line, connects Provo to Ogden.

All this for the 23rd largest combined statistical area in the country, just ahead of Kansas City and just behind Sacramento.

But ridership has been lagging, and a ballot measure to impose a modest tax increase for improved service failed in Salt Lake and Utah counties in 2015. A Dan Jones & Associates opinion poll commissioned by Utahpolicy.com in 2016 found 50 percent of Utahns approving of UTA’s performance, but almost as many (47 percent) said they would like the board to be elected, and not appointed.

Trust is an elusive quality. It does not necessarily reflect current operations or attempts to correct past problems. But once it has been lost it can take years of hard work and excellent service to regain, especially in an age where people tend to pay only fleeting attention to news about taxing agencies.

UTA provides an important service along the Wasatch Front. It provides environment-friendly options for commuters tired of wasting gas in long rush-hour traffic jams. It affords cheap access to hotels and downtown tourist areas for visitors who enter the city through the airport.

The new benefits package may be a small deal in real terms, but it was likely not a wise move at a time when the agency needs to put its best foot forward.