81 Schenectady employees paid over $100K last year

High level of extra hours seen on Schenectady force
  
By Paul Nelson
  
Updated 8:30 am, Wednesday, January 13, 2016
  




Schenectady

In a city where the median household income is around $37,000, a Schenectady police sergeant earned $174,021 last year, making him the highest paid municipal employee in 2015, according to city payroll records obtained by the Times Union under a Freedom of Information Act request.

In doing so, Sgt. Jeffrey McCutcheon supplemented his $75,537 annual base salary plus with $88,659 in overtime pay nearly $10,000 in special compensation, including pay for longevity and working holidays. Most of the other crime fighters also received compensation on top of their base bay and overtime.


McCutcheon, who Wednesday celebrates eight years on the force, said most of his overtime last year occurred as a patrol officer, not as a supervisor.

"If I didn't work, the spot wouldn't be filled, and there would be one less person on the streets," said McCutcheon.

He said he accepted the overtime after it was rejected by patrol officers and detectives.

"I work a lot, I like the people I work with, and like being involved with the city,' said McCutcheon. "I never feel it's a burden to come to work."

Lt. Mark McCracken, the city police spokesman, earned $168,649, good enough for the No. 2 spot, a position he's held for the past few years.

Three other city police officers, Peter Mullen, the Schenectady Police Benevolent Association president, Edward Ritz and Jeremy Pace also more than doubled their yearly salary by working extra hours on their way to the No. 3, 4 and 6 spots, respectively.

Everyone on the list of the top 10 moneymakers with the exception of Fire Chief Raymond Senecal works in law enforcement. Senecal's pay was $141,735, which made him the eighth highest-paid City Hall employee.

Rounding out that list, Public Safety Commissioner Wayne Bennett, Lt. Eric Clifford and Sean Clifford, who are brothers, and Jason Slingerland. Bennett, who retired as the superintendent of the State Police in 2007, received an insurance buyout of $4,888 because he is insured under his wife's policy, according to Tiffany White, city personnel and benefits administrator.

  
10 top earners

Following are Schenectady's 10 highest-earning employees in 2015. They are all police officers except for Public Safety Commissioner Wayne Bennett and Fire Chief Raymond Senecal.

Total pay Base pay Overtime

Jeffrey McCutcheon $174,021 $75,537 $88,659

Mark McCracken $168,694 $84,121 $72,152

Peter Mullen Jr. $157,107 $68,673 $81,000

Edward Ritz $155,144 $69,033 $73,907

Eric Clifford $152,493 $84,121 $47,897

Jeremy Pace $150,843 $69,702 $72,500

Wayne Bennett $143,650 $127,247 $0

Raymond Senecal $141,735 $140,535 $750

Sean Clifford $136,120 $68,673 $55,453

Jason Slingerland $135,184 $68,673 $57,997

In some cases, the police officers' compensation also includes payment for longevity, working holidays and a special holiday and insurance buyout.

Source: City of Schenectady Finance Department


All told 81 of the approximately 600 municipal employees collected over $100,000 in pay last year.

Mayor Gary McCarthy's salary was $99,700. The mayor on Tuesday referred calls to McCracken and Bennett.

McCracken refused comment Tuesday. Bennett did not return a call.

Bennett said during the swearing-in of five police recruits that the 138-member department was not at full strength, according to City Councilman Vince Riggi, who attended the ceremony. If all the new recruits graduate from the police academy, that would boost the force to 143, which would still be 11 below the maximum number of officers.

In 2015, the city budgeted $1.9 million for police overtime and paid nearly double that, $3.6 million, said White.

Riggi wondered what was fueling the continuing high level of overtime. "If it's staff, we should seriously be looking at getting staffing up to where it should be," he said. "In a perfect world, I would like a full complement of officers.

City Councilwoman Marion Porterfield echoed those sentiments when apprised of city employees' earnings in 2015.

"That says to me that we need more police officers," said Porterfield. "I think part of the problem is we have fewer police officers than the force calls for


http://www.timesunion.com/tupl.....p?cmpid=fbsocialflow

Perhaps another indicator that substantiates the report from the state that Schenectady has THE HIGHEST crime rate.

Perhaps an indicator that the mayor won't adequately staff the police department because he is spending taxpayer money on his gala bus tours of over-assessed houses which result in over-taxed homeowners.   Tax money to billionaire Galesi instead of addressing crime in the neighborhoods where the taxpayers live, taxpayers who live in the highest over-assessed city in the whole state of NY and a mayor who refuses to reassess the city.   Tax money going to exempt his rich political cronies downtown from paying taxes.  Tax money going to GE in the form of 100% tax exemptions while GE is cutting programs and staff.

Quoted from mikechristine1

Perhaps another indicator that substantiates the report from the state that Schenectady has THE HIGHEST crime rate.

Perhaps an indicator that the mayor won't adequately staff the police department because he is spending taxpayer money on his gala bus tours of over-assessed houses which result in over-taxed homeowners.   Tax money to billionaire Galesi instead of addressing crime in the neighborhoods where the taxpayers live, taxpayers who live in the highest over-assessed city in the whole state of NY and a mayor who refuses to reassess the city.   Tax money going to exempt his rich political cronies downtown from paying taxes.  Tax money going to GE in the form of 100% tax exemptions while GE is cutting programs and staff.

what world do you live in??????????

of course crime is rampant...duh!!!

you want MORE cops?????

taxes will REALLY increase then with the cops union life time benefits!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And the friends and family club will ALWAYS get the tax breaks.....always been that way (even under rep rule)

it's a corrupt system.....and both dems and reps are part of it.

Well, now we know where a good chunk of casino revenue will go. Overtime almost doubled? Anyone who thinks McCarthy is coughing up any type of worthwhile property tax cut is barking up the wrong tree. The money will be used to hire employees, pay salaries and benefits and other sundry city business. Didn't the city hire some new officers within the last year? Can anyone point me to a definitive article that says hiring more cops saves overtime money?

tax payer 'investment' (extortion) in casinos/stadiums etc always increases the need for bigger government infrastructure aka 'the village'....it's a bad math problem

As I figured, all bs from the City side every year, today's TU has an article about Sch'dy County pay, Chris Gardner says it's cheaper to pay ot then bring on new hires. The MAN, and I mean THE MAN, just shot
down all who say otherwise. I guess all the worthless statements are said to placate the masses. Bottom line, not a one of anyone there cares.

Quoted from mikechristine1

Perhaps another indicator that substantiates the report from the state that Schenectady has THE HIGHEST crime rate.

Perhaps an indicator that the mayor won't adequately staff the police department because he is spending taxpayer money on his gala bus tours of over-assessed houses which result in over-taxed homeowners.   Tax money to billionaire Galesi instead of addressing crime in the neighborhoods where the taxpayers live, taxpayers who live in the highest over-assessed city in the whole state of NY and a mayor who refuses to reassess the city.   Tax money going to exempt his rich political cronies downtown from paying taxes.  Tax money going to GE in the form of 100% tax exemptions while GE is cutting programs and staff.

I agree on the over-assessed part I am trying to find a proper home to refurb and live in, but the assessed value is $93,000 for a city owned home that  they want to sell for $9000 which would make it barely cheaper than just renting a place..