The Boston city payroll declined slightly in 2005, but–as usual–police officers ranked among the top-paid city employees, reports the Boston Globe. Nine cops earned more than $200,000. Out of 1,500 employees who made more than $100,000 last year, 1,026 worked for the Police Department. The earnings figures include base salary and extras such as overtime, court time, and paid details.
Mayor Thomas M. Menino, who was paid $150,000, was ranked 187th among the 16,329 full-time equivalent employees paid by the city in 2005. Police Commissioner Kathleen M. O’Toole, who made $160,000, was 115th, according to the records, and Fire Commissioner Paul Christian got $163,000, down from $177,000 in 2004. The payroll figures were released as the city prepares to renegotiate contracts with all of its 32 unions. Talks with the police unions are expected to be particularly contentious, with city officials gearing up for a slimmed-down contract and leaders of the Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association still simmering after their 2004 contract dispute landed in the lap of a state arbitrator, who forged a settlement they deemed too low.
Link: http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2006/03/02/boston_reports_a_wage_drop/