Philadelphia Parking Authority is a money machine

When it comes to ruthless efficiency in local government, the Philadelphia Parking Authority would seem peerless.

With an army of blue-uniformed parking enforcers blanketing Philadelphia each day, the agency has become one of the nation's most aggressive towing, booting and ticket-writing juggernauts since state Republicans took control of it in 2001.

The authority slaps nearly 1.6 million violation notices on the windshields of Philadelphia drivers annually, a 35 percent increase over 2001. Nearly 50,000 vehicles are towed, more than double the old figure. Meters require more feeding, the hourly rate at authority garages is up 50 percent, and parking enforcement officers prowl hundreds of additional square blocks in neighborhoods they rarely ventured into before.

All told, the authority now squeezes $192 million a year out of Philadelphia drivers.

That's tough enough for many to take, even assuming that the cash is being used for a clear public good: hiring teachers, say, or paving city streets.

But as an Inquirer analysis shows, the Parking Authority has become a self-replicating patronage machine that has used its new revenue principally to double the size of its staff and to inflate the salaries of its myriad managers.

Despite revenue growth of 54.5 percent since fiscal 2001, the authority has delivered only a pittance of extra help for the city's general fund: an average of $740,000 a year, or 4 percent, when adjusted for inflation.

"The city is sucking air in a lot of areas, and we look and see a Parking Authority that's twice as big, that's seen a wild running-up in staffing numbers," said Joyce Wilkerson, Mayor Street's chief of staff. "I'm not sure the Parking Authority should have first dibs on that revenue when we have trouble keeping libraries open."

Others share that view. Parent organizations are calling on the agency to write a $20 million check to the public schools. City Controller Alan Butkovitz is poring over the organization's books. Gov. Rendell plans to grill the authority's board of directors, and lawmakers in Harrisburg may call for hearings.

"It appears that it's running amok," said State Rep. Dwight Evans (D., Phila.), who has been a longtime supporter of the authority.

Authority executives and their political allies vigorously disputed that characterization in interviews last week.

They point to a host of impressive technological innovations and the agency's ever-expanding regulatory and law enforcement roles, including licensing and inspection of city taxis, administration of the red-light camera program, operation of once-privatized parking lots, and impoundment of illegal vehicles.

It's those extra mandates, they said, that have led to such payroll growth.

"I think it's a top-notch organization," said State Rep. John Perzel (R., Phila.), who orchestrated the state takeover in 2001. "It isn't just parking anymore. They've got a lot of responsibilities."

The authority certainly is spending a lot of money meeting those new responsibilities.

Even adjusting for inflation, overall payroll costs have jumped a staggering 103 percent since 2001. The authority has hired an additional 502 workers since then, bringing its total staff to 1,050.

Lucrative executive salaries aren't helping keep payroll costs down. Executive Director Vincent Fenerty Jr., for example, a Republican ward leader from Fishtown, is paid $195,000 a year, making him one of 20 authority managers to top $100,000 annually.

The authority's largesse extends to public relations consultants and political lobbyists. The agency has paid seven such firms and individuals at least $1.48 million since 2003, according to contracts obtained by The Inquirer.

Major capital investments in buildings, technology, and the vehicle fleet - including a garbage truck and 274 other cars, wreckers, vans and SUVs - have consumed still more of the authority's earnings.

When all the expenses are accounted for, the authority had just $20.6 million left to give to the City of Philadelphia last fiscal year.

"Parking enforcement is a labor-intensive business. It's expensive. You need a lot of people to do it right," Fenerty said, predicting that the authority would fall short again this fiscal year of the $25 million mark the city is hoping for.

He suggested that perhaps expectations were just too high.

Yet if anyone is to blame for high expectations, it is Perzel, the authority's chief benefactor. After taking control of the authority in 2001, Perzel justified the move by pointing to the agency's long and sordid history of patronage, bad management, waste and outright corruption.

He promised to clean house, and to generate a windfall of up to $45 million a year for the School District of Philadelphia.

"We can dramatically change how it runs and help Philadelphia's schools at the same time," Perzel said at the time.

Perzel now says the $45 million figure was a big mistake, an overestimation based on the incorrect assumption that the authority's earnings from its airport garages - $33.6 million this fiscal year - could be sent to the city. Under federal law, that money has to be used for airport operations.

But even setting aside any $45 million expectations, Perzel and his handpicked authority managers have not lived up to the promises he made in several key respects.

Take patronage.

The agency has been at least as rife with it on the Republicans' watch as it was under Democratic control.

Six Philadelphia ward leaders - five Republican, one Democrat - and at least 174 city Republican and Democratic committee members were on the authority's payroll as of August. The Inquirer has identified dozens more staffers with clear political or familial connections to local power-players.

Fenerty doesn't deny that the authority is a patronage organization. In fact, he views patronage as a plus, a way to "pre-interview" job applicants.

"It means someone has vouched for your integrity, someone has spoken for your reputation and character," Fenerty said.

As is often the case in patronage operations, the authority is crammed with supervisors. Its payroll includes 189 employees with management titles, for a ratio of just 5.5 employees for every supervisor.

There are at least six management levels at the PPA; seven if you include the board and its chairman, Joseph Ashdale, who is paid $75,000 a year for his part-time duties. Some management experts contend that only the largest multinational corporations - think Microsoft or GE - need that many layers.

In addition to Fenerty, the authority employs a trio of well-compensated deputy executive directors: Sultan Ahmad ($171,059), William B. Moore ($161,376), and Carl Ciglar ($161,376), each of whom earns more than Mayor Street.

Moore and Ahmad each held Fenerty's job in prior years, before being demoted when new political masters took control of the authority's board. They were not asked to leave, however, and they have continued to receive hefty raises.

"It just blows my mind," said former city Managing Director Philip R. Goldsmith. "The former top two guys got demoted, but they're making more money."

Perzel defended the authority's management pay scale, correctly noting that the top executives at other independent government authorities, such as Housing, Redevelopment, and Port, were similarly well compensated.

But Fenerty acknowledged that the Parking Authority's compensation packages were high.

"We are going to look at those salaries to see if there's anything we can do to reduce costs," Fenerty said.

He declined to say whether wage cuts were being considered. Ahmad is set to retire next month, and the agency will combine two senior positions when that happens, Fenerty said.

At least part of the explanation for the authority's crowded management ranks is political.

After seizing control of the agency, Perzel moved to soothe the nerves of rattled city Democrats by issuing assurances that the authority's patronage door would remain open to Democrats, and by committing to keep Ahmad, Moore, and other senior Democrats on staff.

"When the Republicans took over, they did a smart thing: They sat down with the people in leadership over there and said, 'We're not going to commandeer this place,' " said City Councilman Frank Rizzo, a Republican.

Before the state takeover, the informal agreement between the city's Democratic and Republican bosses was that about one of every three patronage jobs at the Parking Authority would go to Republicans. That ratio has roughly reversed since the Republicans took command.

U.S. Rep. Bob Brady (D., Pa.), chairman of the city Democratic Party, did not return calls seeking comment.

"It's an unwritten rule," Goldsmith said of the one-third/two-thirds agreement. "It's like, 'OK, you may play for the Mets and I may play for the Phillies, but we're basically in the same business and it's important for the industry to do well, so we'll help each other out.' "

There is little power-sharing on the authority's six-member board of directors, however. Five of the six are activist Republicans: Ashdale, the chairman, who is the political coordinator for International Union of Painters and Allied Trades; Al Taubenberger, vice chair and long-shot GOP mayoral nominee; Michael Cibik, a lawyer and Republican ward leader; Russell Wagner, a vice president of finance with Holy Redeemer Health System; and Karen Wrigley, an eye doctor and Republican committeewoman.

The lone Democratic appointee is Herman "Pete" Matthews, president of District Council 33 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.

The governor appoints two of the six board members, and then fills the remaining four spots from a list of six nominees submitted by the speaker of the House and the Senate president. All appointees serve lengthy terms, and none of the current board members will be up for reappointment any time soon.

For the most part, the board has operated out of public sight. Its members are not listed on the authority's slick Web site, nor are its scheduled meetings.

"It is pretty shocking how long it's been under the radar," said Helen Gym, a member of Parents United for Public Education. "That's not how an agency with that much money and power and responsibility should operate."

Now, though, the authority is lighting up radar screens in the governor's office, the state legislature, and City Hall.

Rendell spokesman Chuck Ardo said the governor - who signed off in 2004 on a deal that kept the authority under state control - was dismayed by staffing levels at the authority.

"He never expected the employment numbers to balloon the way they have, nor salaries to skyrocket the way they have," Ardo said.

And Evans, who has sponsored his share of patronage workers at the Parking Authority, said it might be time for the state legislature to get involved as well.

"We have the ultimate jurisdiction," Evans said. "We can bring that organization in for a discussion about what's going on."