Metro

100G jobs soaring at piggy PA

Call it the Pork Authority.

The number of Port Authority fat cats taking home a base salary of $100,000 or more rose to nearly 1,400 in 2009, despite the bistate agency crying poverty and talking of toll increases, according to a Post analysis.

About 90 additional employees bellied up to the $100,000-plus trough last year through either newly created positions or raises, bringing the total to 1,387, records show. That sent the payroll for this privileged club to $175 million, up by 9 percent from $161 million in 2008.

Two of the heftiest salary hikes were handed out to executives. Lillian Valenti, director of procurement, got a 13.3 percent raise in 2009, bringing her pay to $198,328. The salary of Diana Beecher, chief technology officer, rose by 12 percent to $231,192.

Even new hires who took over old positions started out at a much higher salaries than their predecessors.

“You are acting like there are fat cats at the top, and that they are getting richer, and they are not,” a PA spokesman said. “There are a lot of people who cross the line from $99,000 to $100,000.”

The spokesman said Valenti’s and Beecher’s raises and Lynn’s salary were the going rate in the private sector for employees of their caliber.