The Patrick administration is taking a pragmatic approach to the salaries being offered to candidates for the long-empty top jobs at Massport and the MBTA, paying more money than the governor would like but less than market rates.

Tom Glynn, a seasoned and politically astute former executive at Partners HealthCare and the MBTA, and currently a public policy lecturer at Harvard’s Kennedy School, accepted the Massport job on Thursday, agreeing to a three-year contract at $250,000 a year. He will oversee Logan Airport and the port of Boston.

The salary will be $100,000 more than what the state’s secretary of transportation is paid, and $46,000 less than what Massport’s previous chief, Tom Kinton, received. The salary is also well below what people running similar airport/port operations around the country receive. “Market for this job is probably $500,000,” Glynn said.

When the search firm that sought him out for the Massport job told him the salary would be $250,000, Glynn said it was acceptable to him and didn’t give it another thought. “The salary negotiation took 30 seconds,” he said. (Glynn was paid $1.2 million as chief operating officer of Partners in fiscal 2010, according to state records.)

Richard Davey, the state’s secretary of transportation, has indicated the new general manager of the MBTA will receive more than his salary of $150,000, but he has declined to say how much more. The two finalists for the job, Beverly Scott and Dwight Ferrell, both work at the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority and are paid $315,000 and $231,000, respectively.

“It is very likely that the candidate who is chosen will earn less than his/her current salary,” said T spokesman Joe Pesaturo in an email.

Gov. Deval Patrick went on a housecleaning tear at state authorities in 2009 after he was caught trying to place a political ally in a high-paying job at one of the agencies. Many authority executives at the time were making $250,000 to $300,000 a year with perks unheard of in government. Kinton, the former head of Massport, was making $295,000 a year and had stored up $450,000 of unused sick and vacation time. He was let go just as the Massport board was preparing to give him a $22,000 raise.

Patrick subsequently eliminated two authorities and forced out or lowered the pay of every authority executive earning more than $250,000 a year except for Dr. Susan Windham-Bannister. Windham-Bannister, who heads the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center, an agency Patrick played a personal role in creating, earns $285,000 a year managing a $2.5 million agency with less than 10 employees. By contrast, Glynn will oversee 1,100 employees and a $380 million operating budget at Massport.

The downsizing of salaries at state authorities left many wondering whether the agencies would still be able to hire top-flight talent, but Patrick aides insisted quality candidates could be attracted. Glynn noted that, even though the Massport salary was low by industry standards, the position attracted eight to 10 finalists for the job. “People recognize Boston is a special opportunity in this industry,” Glynn said.

Glynn, 66, said Massport is in great shape right now. He said the agency is well run and the airport has essentially been rebuilt in place over the last several years. He said he will be trying to chart a course for the agency for the next 10 years. “The airport is probably the best public service we have in Massachusetts,” he said.

In a meeting earlier this week with Patrick and Davey, Glynn said their chief interest was in the expertise Massport could offer to other parts of state government. Massport’s port operators, for example, could provide advice to port officials elsewhere around the state, he said.

The Patrick administration is also looking to cash-flush Massport to shoulder a greater share of the state’s transportation costs. Glynn noted Massport has provided help in the past, taking over the money-losing Worcester Airport, giving the Tobin Bridge to the state, and absorbing more of the costs of the MBTA’s Silver Line. “There are going to be more win-wins on the table,” he said.

Homepage photo by Tim Sackton and published under a Creative Commons license.