A panel of lawmakers that has been nudging the Denver area’s Regional Transportation District toward a more responsible approach to executive pay was told today that the agency is closing in on proposed policy changes.

Earlier this year, lawmakers had raised questions over how the agency arrived at its compensation package for its general manager after public outcry over the size of a payout to outgoing RTD chief Cal Marsela. The Legislative Audit Committee had called on RTD to revamp its approach to compensation packages for its executives and to look at ways it could be more accountable to the public.

RTD Board Chair Lee Kemp, appearing before the audit committee earlier this week, told committee members that RTD is making headway in implementing proposed changes, and Kemp outlined the updated policy direction that RTD would be taking. Landing on a benchmark for compensation for RTD’s general manager is proving to be the tallest task, according to Kemp.

“The most difficult part will be in finding those equations that put everything back in perspective,”  said Kemp. He said future pay packages will have to factor in variables such as cost of living in Denver when recruiting from other states.

Kemp said that the benchmarks will be determined by October of this year and that he is confident that the board will approve proposals that range from updating the job description of the general manager to moving from performance-based pay raises for executives to raises based on achievement of certain goals.  The pay raise would be capped at 5 percent annually.

Sen. Lois Tochtrop, D-Thornton, responded to Kemp with her assessment of a contractually stipulated raise for the general manager contrasted with the negotiated union contract with rank and file employees of RTD.

“It’s nice to get golden parachutes and all this other kind of stuff, but what is happening, not only here, but it seems that this is a trend around the country, is that your upper echelon are receiving the big salaries and the people that are doing the work are getting 1 percent, which is not even COLA (Cost of Living Adjustment),“  said Tochtrop.

“You need to make sure that those folks that are really doing the work and that are out there, and being seen by the general population– the face of RTD–are getting those raises,” she said.