The incoming head of the New York City Housing Authority is about to earn an astonishing $403,000 a year – but wasn’t willing to cover the cost of a trip from Minneapolis to prepare for his new job, The Post has learned.

Gregory Russ was scheduled to travel to New York City last week “to have preliminary meetings…maybe go to some developments and so forth,” a NYCHA spokeswoman said last month.

But Russ never showed up, and three sources familiar with the matter blamed it on his refusal to shell out for airfare and lodging when the city said it couldn’t pay.

On Tuesday, the Priceline website showed that it would cost a measly $1,211 for a round-trip flight from Minneapolis and four nights in a hotel room within walking distance of NYCHA’s downtown headquarters.

“I can’t believe that he wouldn’t want to come and meet people, get up to speed and get his feet on the ground,” a source said.

Mayor de Blasio – who already gave Gregory Russ the city’s biggest salary and weekends off to spend with his family in Minneapolis – actually tried to use taxpayer money to fund the visit when Russ balked at paying, one source said.

But the Office of Management and Budget vetoed that plan on grounds that Russ, who’s scheduled to start Aug. 12, wasn’t yet a city employee, the source said.

NYCHA has been run by acting general manager Vito Mustaciolo since interim chairwoman and CEO Kathryn Garcia returned to her job as sanitation commissioner on July 8.

The agency – which is being overseen by a federal monitor following a series of scandals involving lead paint, mold and heating outages – has been without a permanent leader since former chairwoman Shola Olatoye quit in disgrace in April 2018.

On Monday, monitor Bart Schwartz issued a blistering report that revealed how NYCHA workers let a “putrid liquid” flood a laundry room in a Harlem housing project because they didn’t have a ladder to fix the leak.

City Councilman Ritchie Torres (D-The Bronx), who is among NYCHA’s most outspoken critics, was astounded by The Post’s findings regarding Russ’s canceled trip.

“It would be comical if it were not so serious,” said Torres, who grew up in NYCHA housing.

“I worry that it’s an omen of things to come.”

Torres also took a shot at de Blasio’s long-shot campaign for the presidency, saying that “NYCHA is poorly served by an absentee chairman just like the city of New York is poorly served by an absentee mayor.”

“Absenteeism is becoming a pattern in the administration,” he added.

The mayor’s office wouldn’t answer questions about Russ’ refusal to pay for his trip.

“While developing a plan for Chair Russ to visit in July, we encountered a number of challenges related to scheduling and logistics,” de Blasio spokeswoman Marcy Miranda said in an email.

“We are regularly in touch with the incoming Chair in preparation for his August 12 start date and look forward to having permanent leadership at NYCHA.”

Russ didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Additional reporting by Bruce Golding