REVERE - School Superintendent Paul Dakin is the city's top tax dollar-paid earner for a second year in a row but the number of police officers with top earnings dropped slightly between 2007 and 2008.An Item review of city pay records logged Dakin's salary at $182,724 for last year, roughly what he made in 2007. By contrast, the superintendent earned $153,716 in 2005.
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All told, 67 city workers earned $100,000 or more in 2008, including 24 top school principals and directors. Mayor Thomas Ambrosino came in 18th on the city pay list with his $124,343 salary.
"I don't think it's a stretch to say the top 100 salaries raise a bunch of eyebrows," said City Council President Daniel Rizzo, adding, "The spread between the highest paid and people at the bottom is widening."
Police Officer David Callahan came in second on the 2008 city salary list at $162,940 but he earned only a fraction of the police detail pay logged by Officer Emir Saric who topped the paid detail list at $45,900. That amount made up part of Saric's $119,000 gross pay for 2008.
Fire Chief Eugene Doherty earned $158,562 in 2008 and Police Chief Terence Reardon made $153,788.
Seven other officers earned $30,000 or more in detail pay in 2008 as part of their combined earnings. Police details are typically paid by private businesses to the city based on rates set in police collective bargaining contracts.
Politicians and police battled a year ago over detail pay with legislative leaders joining Gov. Deval Patrick in announcing they hoped to save taxpayers $100 million over 20 years by initially replacing police officers assigned to work construction or utility repair jobs on local side streets or small roads with privately hired flaggers.
Police officers quickly pointed out that state-set rates for private roadwork details rival the per hour pay they receive. Hourly rates collectively negotiated for police officers working private utility details ranged last year from $35 to $42 on the North Shore with Revere officers paid $37 an hour.
Locally, detail pay in 2007 included in gross earnings for police officers ranged from the $53,973 in Saric's $113,800 salary to $4,900 included in Callahan's $150,300 salary.
The number of police officers combining private income from details and taxpayer salaries to earn over $100,000 doubled between 2006 and 2007. But the number of officers earning six-figure salaries dropped from 39 in 2007 to 31 in 2008.
The two police unions have already agreed to defer a raise in order to help the city recover from a $4.8 million shortfall spanning the current spending year into 2010. Rizzo thinks tough times could last into 2011 and he said pay hike deferrals may have to be revisited.
"It's great to have a one-year concession, but it won't surprise me to talk about these very same things for FY 2011," he said.
Recent years have seen jumps in taxpayer-paid city salaries.
The number of city six-figure salary earners jumped from 44 to 70 between 2006 to 2007 with School Superintendent Paul Dakin and top aide Ann Marie Costa topping the list.
Former Library Director Robert Rice, who resigned earlier this year after city auditors questioned library expenditures authorized by him, earned $68,863 in 2008. After Ambrosino, the top paid elected municipal official was dean of the council George Colella who earned $22,000 in 2008 as council president.
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