The MTA, which will sock riders with fare hikes next month, handed four executives fat one-time pay raises totaling $253,000, the agency confirmed.
The checks were cut in December, right before former MTA Chairman Joe Lhota left to make a run for mayor.
The move came after one of the four execs — all who had been asked to defer raises of 3 to 6 percent for up to five cash-strapped years — threatened to sue, Lhota said.
The execs include: Metro-North boss Howard Permut; Michael Horodniceanu, head of mega-projects like the Second Avenue Subway; LIRR head Helena Williams; and ex-bus chief Joseph Smith.
Permut, who earns $243,000, received a $98,000 check; Horodniceanu, who makes $262,000, got $61,250; Williams, who earns $243,000, got $56,000; and Smith got a check for $38,000 — $24,625 in deferred raises plus unused vacation and sick pay.
Lhota said he was honoring contracts signed before he arrived. “A contract is a contract is a contract,” he told The Post.
The MTA said the execs agreed to defer, not “permanently forgo,” raises.