Metra on Thursday revealed that it will pay an $80,000/year pension to the widow of its disgraced, longtime executive director.
Phil Pagano committed suicide on May 7 by stepping in front of a Metra train after allegations surfaced that he took nearly $500,000 worth of unauthorized advances in vacation pay.
The Regional Transportation Authority, the body that overseas Metra, has made assurances that the benefit was not based under any compensation Pagano may have obtained under questionable circumstances, the Chicago Tribune reported.
In addtion, a new report by accounting firm Ernst & Young found that for the past 10 years, Metra's board of directors did nothing to review executive pay, expense accounts or benefits.
