newjerseynewsroom.com

All that construction on the New Jersey Turnpike and Garden State Parkway has put plenty of money into the pockets of — state troopers?

That’s right. Among the workers cleaning up on overtime are specially trained N.J. State Troopers who boosted their 2010 salaries by at least 50 percent, according to the Star-Ledger.

The grand total in OT for the six of the nine troopers overseeing the work was $275,549 combined, records show, and placed them among the division’s top 20 overtime earners last year.

According to the Associated Press, the leader of the highway construction squad tallied $167,890 for the year, with $63,221 coming from his overtime. Superintendent Rick Fuentes, meanwhile, earned just $144,966, according to the payroll records.

In all, 25 troopers earned more last year than Fuentes through a combination of salary, overtime and other payments. Troopers combined to earn $25.5 million in OT in 2010.

The cost of the overtime for the highway construction is not coming out of the State Police budget, but is instead being paid by the Turnpike Authority, which includes the cost of state troopers when figuring its overall costs for such projects.

“While it sounds like a lot of money, this is the most cost-effective way," said David Jones, president of the State Troopers Fraternal Association. He said troopers being paid to work past normal hours are for the construction work are merely doing their jobs and added that the division has worked hard to cut overtime.

Commuters are the ones who will ultimately pay, since they will be facing a 53 percent increase in tolls starting Jan. 1 to help cover the costs of the $7 billion capital program to widen the Turnpike and Parkway. Tolls already went up 40 percent in 2008.

“The amount they’ve spent on overtime has been in line with our expectations and seems entirely appropriate,” said Tom Feeney, a spokesman for the Turnpike Authority. “Any discussion of who makes how much or how it compares to what others make seems very much beside the point.”

That OT for troopers on such projects hasn’t slowed down in 2011. Through the first three quarters of the year, seven of the construction project state troopers had totaled $264,313. The squad leader already had raked in some $50,000 in overtime.

State Police spokesman Lt. Stephen Jones said the costs were necessary.

“There’s a limited pool of troopers to draw from,” Jones said, “and we can’t afford to take troopers from other assignments and assign them to that unit at this point.”

The payroll records had been made public by the Christie administration on yourmoney.nj.gov, a website that lists earnings of state workers, but the records were removed in December at the request of Attorney General Paula Dow. She said that revealing the troopers’ assignments could jeopardize their lives.

Meanwhile, a representative of the National Motorists Association said training civilians to handle some of the troopers’ responsibilities on the project could be more cost-effective.

“Part of what they’re talking about, someone else could be trained to do,” Steve Carrellas said. “The State Police should focus on legitimate enforcement because they are the ones empowered to do that. If someone spent the time looking at all the processes, they probably could cut the overtime in half.”

—JOE GREENE, NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM