MARTA General Manager

I live near Atlanta, GA, and the public transportation in Atlanta is called MARTA. That stands for the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority, in case you were wondering. Recently the general manager of MARTA was offered a job in San Francisco for a sizeable amount more than he makes here in Atlanta (I guess he doesn't realize that the cost of living increase he would experience would offset any increase in compensation, but I digress). Well, I read in the Atlanta Constitution's blog that the MARTA board voted to try to keep him here in Atlanta by presenting a counter offer. While they didn't go into detail what the counter offer was, they did include details about the past year:

MARTA has paid Ford a base salary of $205,000. He also earned nearly $57,000 in benefits last year, including incentive-based bonus pay and an auto allowance.

Is it just me, or is it a bit hypocritical of MARTA to offer their General Manager an auto allowance? Maybe it was an electric car, or one fitted to run on natural gas... [Update: The counter offer wasn't enough to keep him. Look out San Francisco!]