ALBANY – The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates Stewart Airport, the Big Three New York metro jetports and Teterboro Airport in New Jersey, and the World Trade Center site, is among the most generous of the region’s large public sector employers, as reflected in payroll records posted on www.SeethroughNY.net, the Empire Center for New York State Policy’s transparency website.

The highest paid Port Authority employee is its executive director Christopher Ward, whose salary in 2010 was a flat $304,902. The overtime and extra pay leader was Edwin Rivera, a police sergeant, who received $132,286 on top of his base salary of $103,964. He was the eighth highest paid Port Authority employee in 2010 at $236,250.

Susan Baer, the director of the Aviation Division, which oversees Stewart and the other airports, earned $230,022 last year and the Stewart director, Diannae Ehler was paid $183,768. Michael Torelli, the airport’s business development manager, made $120,408 in 2010.

Ralph Tragale, assistant director for Aviation Public Affairs, earned $149,330 last year.

The Port Authority’s 7,345 employees received average base salaries of $79,144, but overtime and other extras inflated the average total pay to over $90,000. Some 36 percent of the authority’s employees were paid a total of more than $100,000. The 100 highest paid employees included 54 police officers, 24 of whom were paid over $200,000 each.

Port Authority/Stewart Airport Salaries

Christopher Ward
Executive Director, PANYNJ
2008 Salary - $204,251
2009 Salary - $217,328
2010 Salary - 230,022

Susan Baer
Director of Aviation
2008 - $204,251
2009 - $217,328
2010 - $230,022

Ralph Tragale
Ass’t. Dir., Aviation Public Affairs
2008 - $117,624
2009 - $129,104
2010 - $149,330

Diannae Ehler
Stewart Airport Director
2008 - $170,809
2009 - $180,024
2010 - $183,768

Michael Torelli
Mgr., Business Planning & Initiatives
2008 - $43,570 (partial yr.)
2009 - $114,115
2010 - $120,408