Police tops in pay in 2012 Officers in Rotterdam, Niskayuna had highest earnings in town in 2012
By Paul Nelson Updated 7:01 am, Monday, February 11, 2013
The highest-paid employees in Rotterdam were all members of the police department, while six of the top 10 earners in Niskayuna are on the police force.
The salaries of police officers and some members of the command staff were supplemented by overtime, which doubled the pay of one Rotterdam cop, according to payroll records from the towns under the Freedom of Information Law.
That officer, Donald DeMarco, had a base salary of $84,037; $83,928 in overtime pushed his pay to $167,965, top on the list. In second place, Sgt. Robert Denny received $146,260 with $56,997 in overtime and $89,263 base pay. Police Chief James Hamilton came in third with a base salary of $124,978. Everyone in the top 10 earned more than $100,000.
In Niskayuna, Highway Superintendent Frank Gavin led the list with $109,934 in 2012. Right after him at $109,126 was Police Sgt. Michael Stevens, who collected $20,336 in overtime and $8,441 in contractual pay and buybacks on top of his $80,348 base pay. In a tie for third place, Superintendent of Water and Sewer Richard Pollock and Comptroller Paul Sebesta earned $107,868. Several police officers, including senior patrolmen, earned between $10,000 and $20,000 in overtime.
Rotterdam Supervisor Harry Buffardi said Tuesday that the police department pay rose over previous years because of overtime for a probe into the firebombing of a home on East Claremont Avenue that ended with the arrest of four people, most of whom have pleaded guilty to felonies related to the crime.
Buffardi estimated that the police overtime tab for that case was "well over $70,000" and would have been higher had the department not enlisted the assistance of state and federal law enforcement authorities.
To pay for the extra hours, the department transferred money from other areas and stayed within the total police budget, said Buffardi.
"Criminal justice is expensive, but it's a product I don't see us cutting back on to any great extent," said Buffardi.
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
"While Foreign Terrorists were plotting to murder and maim using homemade bombs in Boston, Democrap officials in Washington DC, Albany and here were busy watching ME and other law abiding American Citizens who are gun owners and taxpayers, in an effort to blame the nation's lack of security on US so that they could have a political scapegoat."
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