Pittsburgh PA - The former Port Authority of Allegheny County (PAT) CEO, Paul "Captain Scuttles" Skoutelas, filed a federal lawsuit against his former employer late last week. He charges that PAT has illegally reduced his monthly pension by more than $3,000.
The key issue in the lawsuit revolves around a pension agreement that was not approved by the PAT Board and hence not legally binding. PAT reduced Skoutelas' pension and requested repayment of almost $65,000 in over payments. Skoutelas' attorney argues otherwise and states that a promise was made and must be honored.
The man that literally lived large on the taxpayer's dime and brought a whole new meaning to the term government waste is now experiencing the repercussions of his leadership and he doesn't like it. From day one, he spent money like Fort Knox was part of the operation. I mean, nobody needs an $800 desk clock but he deemed it a necessity when he first arrived along with a desk chair that cost well over $1,000, all on the taxpayer's dime of course. The wasteful spending just skyrocketed from that point on.
A costly move of the administration offices from a building it owned into leased office space in the high rent section of Downtown. Continuing to increase the funding of a proven failure of a marketing campaign. Nickel and diming the operating funds for everything from dinosaur books, greens fees and rented Christmas decorations for the office to hiring but not monitoring the spending of professional lobbying agencies acting on their behalf (i.e. reimbursing the lobbyist blindly). Greatly inflating inventory costs by having to have each bus order as different from the previous order as they could get it and with every option they could get. This is barely even the tip of the iceberg in terms of wasteful spending practices that occurred under the leadership of Skoutelas and directly led to the fiscal crisis PAT finds itself in today.
While PAT has never been a really efficient operation, the decade under Skoutelas was ripe with wasteful spending which set PAT up for fiscal disaster. More new ways to waste money were invented under the Skoutelas administration than occurred under all of the previous administrations combined. Skoutelas jumped the ship before the actual crash so he didn't have to deal with the consequences.
Skoutelas also introduced a controversial pension program under his watch at PAT known as the "Deferred Retirement Option Program" or DROP. The DROP program literally allowed key employees to double dip into the already underfunded management pension plan. He was also allowed to buy pension credit for previous service at PAT as well as his time with Lynx in Orlando FL to increase his overall pension.
Sadly, with the way the courts rule on such matters, PAT will ultimately be out the money and Skoutelas will get his full plunder. The riders and taxpayers will get punished in the end to offset Skoutelas' share of the PAT loot.
It takes a lot of chutzpah to sue your former employer for money when you yourself steered that former employer into a fiscal disaster which has left the public with 15% less service, threats of another 10% and a fare increase on the horizon as well as the loss of employment for many employees.
The key issue in the lawsuit revolves around a pension agreement that was not approved by the PAT Board and hence not legally binding. PAT reduced Skoutelas' pension and requested repayment of almost $65,000 in over payments. Skoutelas' attorney argues otherwise and states that a promise was made and must be honored.
The man that literally lived large on the taxpayer's dime and brought a whole new meaning to the term government waste is now experiencing the repercussions of his leadership and he doesn't like it. From day one, he spent money like Fort Knox was part of the operation. I mean, nobody needs an $800 desk clock but he deemed it a necessity when he first arrived along with a desk chair that cost well over $1,000, all on the taxpayer's dime of course. The wasteful spending just skyrocketed from that point on.
A costly move of the administration offices from a building it owned into leased office space in the high rent section of Downtown. Continuing to increase the funding of a proven failure of a marketing campaign. Nickel and diming the operating funds for everything from dinosaur books, greens fees and rented Christmas decorations for the office to hiring but not monitoring the spending of professional lobbying agencies acting on their behalf (i.e. reimbursing the lobbyist blindly). Greatly inflating inventory costs by having to have each bus order as different from the previous order as they could get it and with every option they could get. This is barely even the tip of the iceberg in terms of wasteful spending practices that occurred under the leadership of Skoutelas and directly led to the fiscal crisis PAT finds itself in today.
While PAT has never been a really efficient operation, the decade under Skoutelas was ripe with wasteful spending which set PAT up for fiscal disaster. More new ways to waste money were invented under the Skoutelas administration than occurred under all of the previous administrations combined. Skoutelas jumped the ship before the actual crash so he didn't have to deal with the consequences.
Skoutelas also introduced a controversial pension program under his watch at PAT known as the "Deferred Retirement Option Program" or DROP. The DROP program literally allowed key employees to double dip into the already underfunded management pension plan. He was also allowed to buy pension credit for previous service at PAT as well as his time with Lynx in Orlando FL to increase his overall pension.
Sadly, with the way the courts rule on such matters, PAT will ultimately be out the money and Skoutelas will get his full plunder. The riders and taxpayers will get punished in the end to offset Skoutelas' share of the PAT loot.
It takes a lot of chutzpah to sue your former employer for money when you yourself steered that former employer into a fiscal disaster which has left the public with 15% less service, threats of another 10% and a fare increase on the horizon as well as the loss of employment for many employees.
1 comment:
An addition to the story:
It is confirmed that PAT not only allowed the buyback of time for Skoutelas but in fact paid for it with PAT's own money.
Port Authority paid for ex-CEO's pension upgrade
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