Beth LeBlanc

Lansing State Journal

LANSING — Five bus drivers for the Capital Area Transportation Authority made more than $100,000 in 2016, and eight other CATA drivers made between $90,000 and $100,000.

Their wages — double the base pay for bus drivers — were part of an overall increase in overtime costs at CATA from 2015 to 2016, and contributed to an almost $1.8-million increase in the transit authority’s expenses last year.

The uptick in overtime costs came as ridership decreased by more than 535,000 from 2015 to 2016, and the transit authority was fined about $1.2 million for late tax filings.

The five drivers who racked up more than half a million dollars in wages as a group average more than 20 years of experience with the authority, according to CATA’s Marketing Director Laurie Robison.

She said drivers can work a maximum of 16 hours in a 20-hour span, but must take eight hours off between work days.

“CATA is always sensitive and attentive to how we manage taxpayer dollars,” Robison said in an e-mail. “We track overtime, not only for efficiency, but also for safety.”

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Ingham County Commissioner Mark Grebner represents the county on the CATA board as a non-voting member. Grebner said he was surprised by the overtime costs, but wondered whether those expenses could be equal to or less than the cost of employing additional drivers.

"It does seem kind of surprising that bus drivers are receiving the same kind of pay range as the county’s administrator or a circuit judge," Grebner said.

Last year, CATA drivers and mechanics worked 56,253 overtime hours. That’s 1,331 more than 2015, but still significantly less than the 89,000 overtime hours worked in 2010.

The highest hourly rate for bus drivers is $25.92, Robison said. That means wages for the driver who earned the most in 2016 — about $107,447 — included about $53,913 in regular pay and $53,533 in overtime.

Overtime for CATA drivers came under scrutiny in 2010, when the Mackinac Center used the Freedom of Information Act to report that one CATA driver had earned $140,000 in 2009 — a figure that was $33,000 higher than the 2009 salary of the executive in charge of the Flint Mass Transit Authority.

In 2011, CATA implemented a new rule requiring employees to give two days’ notice before taking planned time off, which decreased operator and maintenance overtime from 89,000 hours in 2010 to about 58,000 hours by 2012.

Driver and maintenance overtime continued to decrease from 2013 to 2015. The 2016 numbers mark a change in that downward trend.

Robison said 2016 saw an increase in employee absences that required full-time drivers to cover unplanned absences.

Additionally, wages increased by $2.80 per hour from 2012 through 2016, so an hour of overtime worked in 2016 cost CATA more than overtime worked in previous years.

Robison said CATA’s ridership was down throughout the year across all routes, contributing toward the overall decline of 535,000 riders, a decrease of about 4.6% from 2015. She said that’s in line with national trends in bus transportation, which dropped by 4.1%.

But a dip in ridership doesn’t automatically trigger fewer routes or hours of operation.

“Decreased ridership does not diminish the need for drivers to operate a bus, nor our mechanics to maintain that bus,” Robison said.

Last year, Sandy Dragoo, CATA’s chief executive officer since 1984, received $207,109, including incentive pay and fringe benefits.

She was one of six salaried administrators at CATA who earned more than $90,000.

The 2016 earnings data was provided to the State Journal by citizen watchdog Steve Harry, who obtained the numbers from CATA though a Freedom of Information Act request.

Last month, CATA came under criticism after announcing it had paid $1.2 million in penalties and interest due to a series of late payroll tax filings in fiscal years 2014, 2015 and 2016.

CATA officials said they had made changes in staffing and procedures in the finance department as a result. Officials said the problem was first noticed in April 2016, but not fully identified until November 2016.

In a news release, Robert Swanson, chairman of CATA's board, said the issue had been handled "reasonably and appropriately."

Created in 1972, CATA provides public transportation in Lansing, East Lansing and the townships of Meridian, Lansing and Delhi. Its governing board includes representatives of those communities as well as nonvoting members representing Ingham County and Michigan State University. The board next meets at 4 p.m. April 19 at the CATA Administrative Offices at 4615 Tranter St.

Voters in the two cities and three townships last approved CATA's operating millage in August 2014, when they authorized a renewal running from 2016 to 2020 with 75% in favor. The tax is 3 mills, which is $3 per $1,000 of taxable value. Ingham County residents also pay 0.6 of a mill, last approved in 2016 and also running through 2020, for service for rural and disabled residents. That levy costs property owners 60 cents per $1,000 of taxable value.