NJ Star Ledger reports: Nearly 7,600 current and retired Port Authority employees have free, unfettered use of E-ZPass tags for all trips across the Hudson River and for Staten Island crossings, a perk costing roughly $1 million over the past year.

Employees with the bistate agency have been receiving free E-ZPass benefits since the electronic toll collection system was instituted in 1997, but it is a perk that is not generally known outside Port Authority circles. The Star-Ledger asked for details on free E-ZPass tags in the months after the agency’s decision to raise tolls 60 percent at peak hours for regular users in March.

Officials at the authority said about 3,500 of the free E-ZPass users are retired employees and added that the free passes are a long-standing practice in the public transportation field.

They said the lost revenue includes some business travel and is only a fraction of the roughly $825 million the agency tallied over the past year in tolls from its two tunnels and four bridges. At peak hours, those holding the free tags save the $8 toll. At off-peak hours, it’s a $6 savings.

When asked about the E-ZPass perks, Gov. Jon Corzine issued a statement opposing the practice. Through a spokesman, the governor said he would like to see the agency adopt a policy similar to that of the state Department of Transportation, which allows employees to use agency-issued E-ZPasses for business purposes only.

E-ZPass use at the region’s various transportation agencies has been under scrutiny since the Metropolitan Transportation Agency was embarrassed by recent disclosures that it provided retired board members free E-ZPass use for life at its bridges and tunnels.