The number of Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority workers earning $100,000 or more in 2017 climbed to the highest level seen in recent years, according to figures released by the agency Friday.
About 2,065 MBTA workers collected six-figure sums last year, representing nearly one-third of everyone who received a paycheck from the agency during 2017.
The number of six-figure earners last year was about 13 percent higher than in 2016, when about 1,820 collected $100,000 or more, and it was higher than in every other year since 2013, the earliest year of readily available data.
Even in 2015, when a record-breaking winter drastically drove up overtime costs, the number of T workers who collected six-figure compensation was lower, at about 1,975.
MBTA spokesman Joe Pesaturo attributed the increasing spending costs to the reduced size of the T’s staff, along with “the elevated level” of construction work on the system last year.
It’s important to note that the data released Friday in response to a public records request from the Globe only showed employees’ base pay and the total amount of money they took home during the year. It didn’t include more detailed breakdowns of other types of compensation, such as overtime pay, even though the Globe’s records request specifically asked for those figures.
The number of T workers who earned $150,000 or more also rose — from 126 in 2016 to 210 last year, a 67 percent jump. And the number of employees who collected $200,000 or more tripled from just six in 2016 to 18 last year.
“The staggering growth in the number of high-dollar staff is unsustainable and especially troubling with fare hikes on the horizon,” said Mary Connaughton, director of government transparency at the Pioneer Institute, a nonprofit think tank that supports limited government.
And given the generally rotten service due to neglect, etc.
The highest-paid worker during 2017 was Perry Yee, a foreman in the wire department, who made $270,634, far above his base salary of $115,377. Yee was also the highest-paid worker in 2016, when he collected $227,022.
Pesaturo said Yee is an electrical foreman “who last year played a very important role in advancing a number of critical projects,” including on the Commonwealth Avenue and Longfellow bridges and winter resiliency work. The wire department, he said, is responsible “for maintaining, replacing, and repairing” electrical cables and wires systemwide.
Meanwhile, the average pay for T workers was about $86,180 in 2017, up by about 8 percent from the year before.
Overall, however, the agency’s payroll spending actually dropped in 2017. That’s because the size of the T’s staff shrunk, but fewer people meant more overtime.....
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"Boston police overtime pay hits $66.9m" by Laura Crimaldi Globe Staff February 16, 2018
The city’s police overtime bill grew last year by nearly $6 million to $66.9 million — an increase the department chalked up to staffing large events such as the 2017 Super Bowl victory parade, the Women’s March, Sail Boston, and two “free speech” rallies held on Boston Common.
The city tied about $5 million of police overtime to the large gatherings.
“All these large public safety events require a lot of police resources,” said Lieutenant Detective Michael McCarthy, a department spokesman. “Those are most often paid for with overtime hours.”
Nearly all the 100 top wage earners on the city payroll work for Boston police.
The city’s highest earner was Haseeb Hosein, a Boston police captain who collected $366,232. He is the commander of District B-3 in Mattapan.
Hosein’s pay included $106,980 in detail pay, $62,696 in overtime pay, and regular pay of $146,893. He declined to comment.
Ten city employees — all members of the Boston Police Department — earned more than $300,000. They include three district captains and four detectives, records show.
Police Commissioner William B. Evans was paid $238,846.
Torii Bottomley, employed by Boston Public Schools, was the highest-paid non-public-safety worker, the city said. Bottomley earned $285,458 in workers’ compensation.
Reached by phone, Bottomley said she was a victim of workplace bullying and has been out of the classroom since February 2013.
Bottomley was hired by Boston schools in 1995 and spent much of her career teaching English as a second language, court papers show. She was last assigned to Boston Adult Technical Academy.
Her compensation reflects a settlement ordered by the state Department of Industrial Accidents that provided her with five years of wages at a rate of 60 percent of her full salary, Bottomley said. She continues to be on the workers’ compensation payroll, according to the city.
In proceedings before the Department of Industrial Accidents, Bottomley said she suffered a psychiatric disability as result of stress she endured on the job. She has also filed a lawsuit in federal court alleging discrimination.
The highest-paid worker outside the city’s public safety and school departments was Boston Public Library president David Leonard, who earned $210,653, the city said.
Schools Superintendent Tommy Chang made $270,660, and Mayor Martin J. Walsh took home $175,000......
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Also see:
Man gets life in prison for role in 2014 Charlestown murder
DCF clears Andover hockey coaches of wrongdoing
(Blog editor exhales)
Andover High School students walk out of class to bring attention to gun violence
When are they going to walk out over the wars?
Charlie Baker signs budget bill with school aid
For schools in Puerto Rico.
She allegedly shot a driver in Lowell, then bragged about it on Facebook
In the wake of Parkland.
4 arrested with 200 pounds of pot, hallucinogenic mushrooms
Seems tame with all the gunfire.
*****
With future of young immigrants in doubt, Trump blames Democrats
Told you that would be covered all week, and for what?
Model describes alleged affair with Trump in New Yorker article
She was “so nervous! I was into his intelligence + charm. Such a polite man,” McDougal wrote in the note about the encounter. “We talked for a couple hours – then, it was ‘ON’! We got naked + had sex.”
Looks consensual to me, and after the storm that was kicked off regarding payoffs and denials regarding another affair, what are we to think?
Ex-teacher accused of paying students for help making bomb
The mind-f*** continues!
Al Qaeda fighter, absent from court, gets life in prison
Where has the CIA sent him now?
******
Turkey, US pull back from brink, amid wide differences
Tillerson is in Turkey saying they are going to ‘‘lock arms and act together from this point forward,’’ -- as he avoided Israel.
6 journalists sentenced to life in prison in Turkey
So much for that.
Ethiopia declares state of emergency amid wide protests
South Africa’s new leader calls for unity
The joke is on the South Africans, and it is not the least bit funny.
******
Tom Ashbrook reflects on his firing
She is on to another point after earlier in the week when she was going after the advertisers on WEEI (I heard a Cars For Kids ad on my ride yesterday, btw), who have taken a step in the right direction with ‘sensitivity training’ for all employees.
Northern Pass stays alive, but state has a backup plan for hydropower
Changes continue for Post Office Square
Boston Herald sale to Digital First Media blessed by bankruptcy court
Mass. delegation chides White House over Russian gas imports
It's not them who will be freezing!
Steve Wynn gets no money in termination deal with casino company
Lo$t his bet?
******
That gets us to the top of the paper:
FBI was warned of Florida suspect’s desire to kill but did not act
Follows up on yesterday's blanket coverage as "mass shootings have become so familiar that they seem to follow the same sad script."
From what little I've seen it looks to me like another staged and scripted crisis drill being reported as live, complete with crisis actors, etc, etc, for the same damn reasons. I haven't watched or read much because we have $een this movie before.
Special counsel charges 13 Russian nationals over 2016 election meddling
I agree with Lendman in that they are phony indictments, especially since "the indictment does not explicitly say the Russian government sponsored the effort, and it's “clearly a message document to end the debate over whether there was Russian interference in the election,” even though none of the defendants were arrested — but prosecutors use such indictments to name and shame operatives....."
The article tells me the Russians were even behind both pro-Trump and anti-Trump campaigns, haw-haw-haw!
What it allows them to do is bury all the Clinton skullduggery, the treasonous Obama spying on an opposition political campaign using the government's national security apparatus, and Wikileaks that came from disgruntled DNC insiders.
And about those trolls and bots:
US company manufactures social media followers
Going to have to kick those Russkies out like we did in Syria and Afghanistan!
(Flip)
Long-delayed Harbor Garage project clears major hurdle
Why your grocery store wants to be like a startup
Romney makes it official: He’s running for Senate in Utah
Maybe he will win this time.
******
Ah, the Good Life.....
