Port Authority payroll hits $1.2B as 20 workers 17 of them cops rake in $400K annually

Twenty Port Authority workers — including 17 cops — pocketed $400,000 last year as the bistate agency’s payroll topped $1.2 billion, records show.Eight of the bloated agency’s top earners collected more than $200,000 in overtime pay, records show.A whopping 323 workers collected six figures in overtime — including 189 Port Authority cops — helping drive the bi-state agency’s 2025 payroll up 5% from the previous year, according to payroll data provided by the Empire Center for Public Policy.Port Authority police officers — who protect many of the New York-New Jersey area’s tunnels, bridges, airports, rail lines, and bus and shipping terminals — are among the nation’s highest-paid law enforcement personnel.While PA officers’ starting salary of $46,954 is well below what NYPD cops and state troopers pocket, they earn $131,703 in base pay after 10 years on the job, and routinely pile up massive overtime pay.Leading the way last year was Police Lt.Nicholas Federico, whose base salary of $180,691 was dwarfed by his $215,717 in OT.

He made $466,775 for the year, include fringe benefits.Not far behind were two detective sergeants: Dewan Maharaj, who took in $448,601, including $147,937 in overtime; and Robert Zafonte Jr., who made $448,601, including $139,193 in OT.Reginald Bowers, a chief maintenance supervisor, collected the agency’s largest overtime haul — $231,916 — boosting his total compensation to $421,041.His combined pay ranked 11th at the debt-ridden authority, which also oversees the World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan.None of them could be reached for comment.Richard Cotton — the PA’s executive director last year before retiring in January — saw his $327,918 salary surpassed by 94 underlings.“Taxpayers are getting fleeced twice: first, paying for these high wages and overtime payments, and second, paying for pensions inflated by these high wages and overtime payments,” said Zilvinas Silenas, president of Empire Center,...