By Seth Daniel
[email protected]
City salaries still outpaced that of Revere workers in private sector jobs, according to the latest salary figures the city released last week, and there are now 71 city employees who make $100,000 or more.
Astonishingly, the top 100 highest paid employees in 2008 accounted for almost 9 percent of the entire city budget – approximately $11.13 million of the $127.24 million operating budget.
Of the top 100 highest paid employees for 2008, 41 are from the School Department, and another 41 are from the Police Department.
However, unlike the School Department salaries, many police officers supplement their income with private detail money that isn’t paid with city tax dollars but rather by private concerns. They also, though, supplement their income with lucrative overtime opportunities funded by city tax dollars.
Of those 41 highest paid police officers, 39 made more than $1,000 in private detail money.
Incidentally, this year, Officer Emir Saric made the most detail money, logging in $45,896 in details.
This year, as well, another person was added to the number of city employees taking home more than $100,000 a year. Last year, there were 70 workers in that category. The addition of only one new person is a slowdown from the previous eight years, when the city averaged nine new employees a year making more than $100,000.
In 2001, only one person – former School Superintendent Carol Tye – made more than $100,000. In eight years, that one has turned into 71.
The annual list of salaries on average tends to show every year the gap between city workers’ pay and that of taxpayers who work outside of the public sector.
The average salary for the 1,848 people who received a check from the city last year was $37,308 – about $718 a week. In the most recent state income data for Revere, which is from 2007, the average Revere worker in the private sector took home $28,236 a year, or $543 a week.
Additionally, city benefits by far typically outpace those of their private sector counterparts, including health insurance, a pension retirement plan, educational incentive pay and other similar benefits.
This year, Superintendent of Schools Paul Dakin was the highest paid employee, making $182,724 in 2008 – only a few hundred dollars above what he made last year.
Dakin has been the highest paid employee for the past several years.
The remaining top five included Lt. David Callahan, head of the Revere Police Department (RPD) Drug Unit; Fire Chief Gene Doherty; Police Chief Terence Reardon; and Deputy Superintendent of Schools Ann Marie Costa.
The lowest paid employees were Jaenine Cortazar, Nicholas Dwyer, Lindsay Haskel, and Nicole Scoppettuolo, all of whom took home $50 checks for substitute teaching.
City Council salaries for 2008:
1. George V. Colella $22,519
2. Ira Novoselsky $20,466
3. John Correggio $20,066
4. John Powers $19,682
5. Charlie Patch $19,394
6. Robert Haas Jr. $18,066
7. Arthur Guinasso $16,866
8. Dan Rizzo $15,400
9. Tony Zambuto $15,166
10. George Rotondo $14,566
11. Jim Kimmerle $14,427
