Eagle Eye on Toll Road Salaries

The Budget and Finance Committee of the Transportation Corridor Agencies, which oversee the development of Orange County’s quasi-public toll roads, has been busy of late. Twice in the past month it has turned down proposals to increase salary ranges for top executives. Last week, the proposed increases were tabled by the TCA board. Don’t expect this issue to go away.

Now that the San Joaquin Hills corridor has come on line, it seems that the matter of salaries is getting a lot of attention from tollway executives. A well done is in order for committee members Christina L. Shea and Patricia C. Bates, who are equally persistent in their vigilance. They clearly have gotten the message that the board represents the public, not the well-perked management team.

Earlier this month, Shea put her objection succinctly: “You don’t increase salary ranges when you’re performing at 51% below projections.� It was a blunt reference to lower-than-anticipated ridership on the toll road. Bates reminded people that there already was a public perception that the executives were making too much money. The committee did, however, increase salary for the lower-level employees, whose potential incomes now range from $19,681 to $63,493.

The key responsibility for the board is to make sure that the public is not burned by runaway costs and by unaccountable decision-making in executive ranks. The board showed its relatively newfound alertness a year ago, when members questioned the need for additional expenditures for toll collections and a contractor.

A mammoth public infrastructure project like the toll roads is always potentially a grab bag for those looking to profit out of the public eye. Expenses and personnel costs easily can balloon out of control, without accountability.

The board, through the diligence of its budget committee, is showing that it intends to keep these issues before the public. It deserves encouragement and support in this effort, especially in the face of relentless efforts to raise executive compensation.