Comments about ‘UTA confirms former general manager's $200K annual pension’

If we want to attract the best and brightest to be responsible for HUGE sums of money and important agencies like UTA, we have to provide a competitive salary/benefit/compensation package. If this pension is what it costs us to attract talent, then that is the real world and there is nothing wrong with it. If we can attract top leaders for less, then of course we should do that. But this is probably what the market demands and we will probably have to keep paying if we want smart people managing such a large and important agency.

If we attract less talented individuals then we risk a poorly-managed agency. There is a balance that the UTA board will have to grapple with.

"John Inglish receives $200,000 a year for life.

Government watchdogs called the figure outrageous,..."

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They call it outrageous, and so do I.

And he also get free ride to all uta system? Nope, he drove to work every day.

They cut back bus service so they can feed $$$$ to this happy guy.

Sounds like Obama is running the UTA. This is deplorable! They take millions in tax dollars, increase fares, and layoff drivers. Hardly a sound running machine. Any real business getting a fraction of what we fork out for UTA would be profitable.

This is outrageous. According to the philosophy of the UTA, if we all do well in our careers, then we can retire at 3/4 pay!! I can never understand the greed of some people! I hope he thinks of those layed off workers and budget cuts as he relaxes under that 'golden umbrella'!

One of the problems with today's corporate society is paying far greater retirement benefits than a person can reasonably use in retirement. It sounds like the Board of Directors are protecting their own hopes for the same at the expense of the public. Look at the California debacle and the greedy public servants who continue to legally steal public funds leaving their communities broke. It is pure greed. How much money do these so called leaders really need.

Wow, if it's we'rnt for the federal government (IRS) capping it at $200,000 he be getting even more. Way to go Utah.

The real question is, what has the legislature done to make sure this doesn't happen again?

Hello? Anyone out there?

I cannot believe this man would stand between the rails like he is, let alone have his photograph taken doing so. I cannot tell you how many times we have been told to stay off the tracks. Sure he is an executive and runs the company, but unless he is doing actual maintenance work on the track, he has no business standing there. Railroads are constantly telling the public to stay away from the tracks and this guy sets a very poor example. He should know better.

While disgusting, this is just part and parcel of the ongoing program those in upper management of the UTA have used to unjustly enrich themselves. Just remember the Terry Diehl incident, and others. Actually, they are almost all corrupt and self serving at the highest level and the State should clean house. This latest example of an individual who was likely overpaid at $350k/yr to run such a small transit operation as compared to transit operations nationally, has definitely been unjustly rewarded with an equally illogical pension for life. This is wrong as well as the other issues on which the UTA upper management has been taken to task on so many levels. As they are rewarding themselves as though the UTA was their own little fiefdom and they are royalty (Terry Diehl profited some $20MM or more), and all the while they had no real skin in the game as they were being paid a salary and using public funds to build the UTA system not their own money, but they have rewarded themselves more as someone who has operated the system as a quasi-private/public partnership whereby they can personally benefit which I find disgusting.

200K a year in retirement? A bit excessive. If UTA was a private concern instead of a quasi-government concern reliant on the tax payers, I'd say pay Inglish whatever he can get. Since tax money is involved, cut his pension by 100k and let him get along in retirement on that. I'm sure he could make it work out.

If UTA was a private concern, they'd have to raise fairs to compensate, no one would ride the buses or Trax, or Frontrunner, due to the high fairs. At that point, they'd go out of business and Inglish would lose his retirement.

I say, let's privatize UTA and take them off of the government teat. Let them compete in the private market. Good luck with that.

this guy would be getting about 50k a year in the private sector

The article doesn't tell us how his pension is funded. Has it already been funded through his and UTA's contributions over the years of his employment, or is it funded from future revenue? Before we can judge, we need that important piece of information.

Some of us have been trying for at least 4 yrs. to get somebody's attention on the UTA issue.

The ONLY possible reason I've been able to find as to why the status quo is maintained is that (some)high-up Republican money wonks stand to gain by being able to "capitalize" on the location of UTA stops/stations via real estate transactions.

This issue is actually one of the biggest reasons I didn't vote for Herbert. He SHOULD have gotten involved - he didn't!

UTA has a board, but they've never been much more than a "rubber stamp" for Inglish, and his buddies at the top. BTW - the whole upper management should be changed out or privatized, or put under the control of UDOT.
The whole upper management is becoming rapidly wealthy - at taxpayer expense.

I would ask all who reads this to let their state legislator know how they feel one way of the other. The ONLY way anything will ever be changed vis-a-vis public transit in Utah is if more citizens get involved.
Its' not a "R" or "D" issue, its a "waste of money" issue!

Gee, this sort of makes my paultry 401K look...well...paultry.
And I'm the one shouldering all the risk.
Sure, my company matched the first 3% of my contribution, but then my boss was done with it.
This guy gets $200K guaranteed. And if the ROI doesn't cover the cost, we pick up the tab.
It is very good to be king.

Why would the UTA hide this information from the public?
Because it is a total embarrassment. That amount of pension is obscene.

What never seems available is the actual cost of a ticket vs what the patron pays. I have heard it may actually cost the tax payer 80% or more of the ticket cost.

John English is a tremendous bargain!

His retirement is about HALF the minimum that a National Basketball Association ROOKIE is paid ($457,588), and a pittance of what the average NBA player is paid ($5.8 million per year as of about 5 years ago!).

What has this guy done? He only planned and built us a superb mass transit system to serve current and future needs, and lined up the necesary funding and political support and sold it to the riders.

The UTA hired him, set the conditions of employment, and he agreed. Same as the agreements made by the state with defense attorneys representing death row inmates. It costs a lot for people with certain skills.

If anyone is not happy with what John English is paid, don't criticize him, argue with the folks that made the offer. (And, don't bother arguing about the price of a Jazz ticket!)

$200,000 a year pension for life? He should be able to afford his own private light rail trax line now.

When the State Legislature raised the Sales Tax levy to fund projected UTA shortfalls, no one in their wildest dreams contemplated that the UTA leadership would become so self serving. By the way,the UTA board did not go outsice to hire Inglish. He grew up in the system and was promoted to his own level of incompetence, a wonderful example of the Peter Principle in action.