Report: Former PPA Director Gave Execs Big Raises Before Scandal

Former Philadelphia Parking Authority director Vince Fenerty gave his top five executives significant raises in the months leading up to a sexual harassment scandal that made major headlines and led to Fenerty’s resignation, according to the Inquirer. 

Both Fenerty and the PPA were the subject of outrage last September when it was discovered that Fenerty was initially sanctioned by the PPA board but permitted to keep his job after an internal investigation into one set of harassment allegations – from 2015 – concluded that Fenerty had “abused his power.” A week after the 2015 allegations were exposed, Inquirer reporter Mike Newall discovered that a second set of allegations, made by a different woman in 2006, had resulted in the PPA board offering the woman a $150,000 settlement, which she apparently turned down out of fear of retribution. She was later fired.

When news broke that Fenerty had been twice accused of sexual harassment, many PPA board members claimed they were unaware of the accusations made in 2006.

According to the Inquirer, Fenerty gave his top executives raises of between $20k and $30k each within an 18-month period, starting in April 2015. PPA spokesman Marty O’Rourke told the newspaper that he does not know why the employees received the raises, which Fenerty implemented, but that they came with additional responsibilities. However, not all of the employees in question were able to provide the newspaper with details regarding those additional responsibilities.

Fenerty, who made $230,000 a year, also saw a salary increase of about $17,000 during that time. He is now receiving the largest pension of any city employee –$158,628 per year.

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