Metro

PA sics tax man on retirees in E-Z war

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The Port Authority is retaliating against tight-fisted retirees suing to get back their lifetime free E-ZPass perks — by sending their names to the tax man to ensure they’ve reported the lucrative benefit in the past.

PA Executive Director Pat Foye announced yesterday that he’s siccing New York and New Jersey tax officials on all 400 litigants in the class-action suit to guarantee that they’ve been paying what they owe on the enviable perk.

“This case, which involves Port Authority pensioners suing to enjoy a toll-free retirement, is offensive to me,” Foye fumed.

“I have asked the New York State Taxation and Finance Department and the New Jersey Division of Taxation to determine whether the 400 plaintiffs owe taxes, interest and penalties for this tangible benefit that was never a lifetime promise.”

In a final zinger, he added, “I assume that lawyers for the retiree plaintiffs informed them of their tax risks.”

He blasted the pensioners’ lawsuit for trying to get back the lucrative benefit — which the PA board rescinded in 2010 to cut costs — while average drivers were digging deeper to pay for recent toll hikes at the agency’s bridges and tunnels.

Revoking the benefit from retirees, non-unionized employees and agency commissioners is estimated to save $1.5 million a year.

“A daily toll-free Port Authority pensioner would have enjoyed a $2,000 tax-free benefit, while the commuter in the next lane would have paid his or her tolls with $2,000 after-tax dollars,” Foye said in a surprisingly harsh statement.

Lead plaintiff Thomas Westfield shrugged off the PA’s threats.

“I think that’s a little bit of bluster to give us some agita,” he said.

Despite enjoying a whopping $106,827 annual public-worker pension, Westfield was adamant that retirees deserve to zip through E-ZPass lanes on the house.

“It was a lifetime promise,” said Westfield, a former PA police sergeant who retired in 1998.

The agency disagrees.

Officials maintain that retirees took advantage of the system after they ended their careers, continuing to use special, non-billable E-ZPasses that had been assigned to them for their on-duty travel.

But Westfield claims he has documents dating back to the 1970s proving that the PA perk had been guaranteed to them even after retirement.

The lawsuit he filed on Dec. 22 in Morris County, NJ, also seeks the return of free parking at all PA airport lots, another benefit the agency rescinded in its cost-cutting move.

At least two other ex-employees have filed separate lawsuits over their beloved E-ZPass perk.

Michael Shuhala, a former PA detective who receives a monthly pension of $5,247.29, filed suit in Bergen County to get his gold-plated E-ZPass privileges back.

And while Shuhala’s fighting for the restoration of the perk, he still receives free PA health-care benefits for life for himself and his family, a source told the Post.

And Shuhala — now a lawyer and municipal judge in Cliffside Park, NJ — also attended law school on the PA’s dime, the source said.

Another former PA employee crying over his lost free E-ZPass is Charles Maikish.

The former PA administrator is suing for $10 million over the agency’s “malicious” decision to take away his privileges, The Post reported in November.

Additional reporting by Josh Margolin and Frank Rosario