Somerville employees with salary >$50K

[jd-science.livejournal.com]

I came across this completely randomly:

http://www.wickedlocal.com/somerville/news/x501037560

It's a list (plus a link to a downloadable spreadsheet) of city employees making over $50,000 in 2007, including their actual salaries and pay breakdowns (e.g., how much overtime pay vs base salary). It's fascinating.

The "author" is GateHouse News Service, whoever that is, and the date on the article is April 2008.

I don't recall seeing this posted on LJ at any point. If it was already discussed, I'll delete this post. Enjoy.

Comments

[cold-type.livejournal.com]

There are a lot of opportunities for cops and firefighters to earn extra money through overtime (including police details).

[m00n.livejournal.com]

Evidently a lot more than there are opportunities for teachers to do the same...

[cowhockey.livejournal.com]

There isn't overtime for teachers. Sadly we don't get paid for staying after school and coming in early. Then again, I didn't become a teacher for the money.

[gruene.livejournal.com]

Yes, because we really need a uniformed cop standing at the edge of the road every time there's a utility repair truck parked there that isn't obstructing traffic at all...

I thought Patrick had changed that...

[nvidia99999.livejournal.com]

Has it been reversed?

Re: I thought Patrick had changed that...

[pierceheart.livejournal.com]

He did it at the state level - individual PD's may have contracts, however, that can't be changed with a simple legislative finger wave.

Re: I thought Patrick had changed that...

[gruene.livejournal.com]

Patrick made a valiant effort, but ultimately did little. To avoid messing with municipal autonomy, his changes only applied to state projects anyway. Somerville could, if it chooses, use flagmen, or better yet, no detail at all, in most cases, but our local government won't touch that nest of hornets with a 50 foot pole.

Personally I think the whole issue of cops verses flagmen is a red herring. The real question is detail or no detail and in many many cases I see a cop there where their presence is completely unnecessary to ensure the safety of the work site.

Re: I thought Patrick had changed that...

[nvidia99999.livejournal.com]

Every time I catch a cab and go down Union Sq, there are a few cops standing near work site doing absolutely nothing (well, breathing smog, I suppose). Each time, I have to listen to the cabbies bitching about it, but I could not agree more with them :)

Re: I thought Patrick had changed that...

[silveraeroguy.livejournal.com]

I got a good chuckle while biking past the work that was recently done on Medford St behind city hall.
1 Cop at Medford & School,
2 Cops at Medford & Pearl
another Officer in between....

every one of them had their cell attached to their heads.

Its becoming illegal to talk and drive or text and drive, but not so for directing traffic to keep us safe.

I hear private companies (aka hired flag-'men') don't like their workers to waste company time. Hence you'll never see a flag-man on a cell.

Re: I thought Patrick had changed that...

[gruene.livejournal.com]

The Cambridge police seem to be a little bit better in this regard. There was constriction near my office and I would see them dutifully standing there for hours on end on a one-block street entirely block off by traffic cones, looking bored out of the their skulls. I didn't feel too sorry for them, since presumably they were laughing all the way to the bank, but it did highlight how stupid most of our "traffic details" are.

[witzwurst.livejournal.com]

But why?

If there is that much overtime, shouldn't we be hiring more police officers?

[ethanfield.livejournal.com]

Just to clarify, it's not really accurate to call these "salaries". The number you see is the total amount that was paid this person through City payroll. But most of the detail money is just paid through the City from whoever commissioned the detail (i.e. if NStar wants to open the road up to do electrical work, NStar pays for the required detail.) The City charges a fee (10%, I think) on top of what is paid the officer.

The relative value and necessity of the detail work is certainly debatable. All I'm saying is, it's easy to look at this and say, "Look at all the taxpayer money the City is wasting!" In fact, it's the other way around -- most of the detail work is a net positive for the City budget, as well as for the officers.

[ethanfield.livejournal.com]

Follow-up: If you want to see what the actual base pay for police officers is, it's on pages 248-251 of this pdf of the City's budget (http://www.somervillema.gov/cos_content/documents/CityofSomervilleFY10Budget.v6-July-8.pdf). The base salaries of every City staff person are listed there.