Other Large Systems In U.S. Less Generous
By Steven Ginsberg
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, January 15, 2006
The severance package for outgoing Metro Chief Executive Richard A. White, which includes a six-figure salary for life, is more generous than ones offered by three of the nation's other large transit agencies.
The deal, giving White a $238,000 one-time payment and an annual pension of $116,000, was revealed last week when Metro board members announced that they were asking for White's resignation after he had led the agency for almost a decade. Board members said his severance package was in line with deals at other systems, and they handed out news clippings to support the claim.
Metro board Chairman T. Dana Kauffman, who helped negotiate White's contract in 2001, said Wednesday that its terms were designed to keep a man who was then the toast of the transit world.
"At the time we entered into it, Dick was being actively courted by a number of authorities, and he was recognized as one of if not the best in the industry," said Kauffman, who represents Fairfax County on the board. "A decision was reached by voting members of the board at that time that this is what needed to be done to make it financially desirable for Dick to remain."
Kauffman said that if other transit chiefs were removed, they would receive lump sums equal to as much as two years' salary, whereas White's one-time payment is equivalent to 10 months' salary.
Other transit systems cited by Metro included ones in Los Angeles, Pittsburgh and the San Francisco area suburbs. They also pointed to the agency that runs streetcars and buses in San Francisco. None of them is near the size of Metro.
In an interview Friday, Kauffman said: "Would I, as the chairman today, love to have a do-over? You bet."
Kauffman added that future contracts would be "incentive-based and not guarantee-based."
Only a handful of U.S. transit systems are comparable to Washington's in size and complexity. Interviews with officials at three -- in the San Francisco Bay area, Chicago and Philadelphia area -- indicate that White got a better deal than comparable officials in those systems would get.
Bay Area Rapid Transit, which serves the San Francisco area and is often called Metro's "sister" system, operates in a region with a similar labor market and costs of living. White was the head of BART before coming to Washington, so he and his successor at BART have served nearly identical tenures in their respective jobs.
Yet White's severance package is significantly more lucrative because of his pension. If BART's general manager, Thomas E. Margro, 61, were to leave under circumstances similar to White's, his annual pension would be $72,000 to $81,000, said Linton Johnson, chief spokesman for BART. The difference would favor White, who is 53, by $35,000 to $44,000 a year.
Johnson said Margro's one-time severance payment would be $283,000, which is $45,000 more than White will receive.
White's deal also calls for him to receive health care for the rest of his life, and if his wife outlives him, she will receive $58,000 a year until she dies. BART also provides health care coverage, but it does not provide survivor benefits.
White, who was criticized by board members and passengers for not riding the system more often, also receives a SmarTrip card that allows him to travel free on Metro for life.
White was a rising star as recently as a few years ago, but in the past two years, Metro has suffered through one embarrassing incident after another, including mismanagement of its service for the disabled, a subway crash and the arrest of a pregnant woman for talking too loudly on her cell phone.
White also came to symbolize a management team that was out of touch with the struggles of the everyday rider when he revealed a little more than a year ago that he drove to work instead of using the transit system. He returned to the rails.
But board members said they grew disillusioned with his leadership and decided it was time for a change.
White will be replaced on an interim basis by Dan Tangherlini, the District's director of transportation and a Metro board member, while the agency searches for a permanent successor.
Aside from BART, another fairly direct comparison is with the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, which serves the Philadelphia area. General Manager Faye Moore is two years older than White and has been with SEPTA for 10 years, one longer than White has been at Metro.
But if she were removed, she would get no lump sum and an annual pension of $29,000, SEPTA spokesman Richard Maloney said.
Chicago Transit Authority spokeswoman Noelle Gaffney said there would be no costly payouts if President Frank Kruesi were removed because he does not have a contract and "serves at the pleasure of the board." If he were to be fired, he would be entitled to the same pension formula that guides other employees and nothing more, she said.
Officials at other transit systems said it was impossible to immediately calculate the terms of similar severance deals because of complicated pension plans and other factors. None of their chiefs has left in recent years under circumstances similar to White's.
His deal has angered riders and even some of the Metro board members who wanted to get rid of him.
"It's just obscene for a public official to have a golden parachute," said Charles Deegan, a Prince George's County board representative who joined the Metro board after the deal with White was reached. "I don't think you'll see that again anytime soon. There's a perception that we're a Fortune 500 company and not a public service."
White's deal was inked as part of a 7.5-year extension he negotiated in 2001. It included a provision that his annual pension would be calculated as if he had reached the maximum retirement limit, even though his age and years of service would have put him well below that mark at any point during the contract. The length of the deal is also unusually long for the industry, raising the possibility of the type of buyout announced.
The deal has angered many Metro riders, who said the money was excessive and would be better spent on repairing the ailing system.
"He shouldn't get that," said Kerry Birchall, a regular rider from Germantown. "Rather than paying off somebody they asked to leave, they'd be better off spending to improve the tracks. They could improve parking."
Birchall added that riders such as herself "pay a lot of money, and the burden of funds going to this guy, I pay for it."
The president doesn't even get that, rider Anthony Johnson exclaimed when told of White's deal.
"For the rest of his life?" he added incredulously.
Staff writer Lyndsey Layton contributed to this report.
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