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SCHENECTADY
City’s salaries show decline in ’09
Sewer supervisor earned most of all
BY STEVEN COOK Gazette Reporter

    The list of Schenectady’s top gross salaries for 2009 has shrunk.
    Not only did the 2009 top earner receive $18,000 less than last year’s, but the list of six-figure earners dropped dramatically, from 63 in 2008 to just 39 in 2009.
    Mayor Brian Stratton cautioned against reading to much into the raw numbers, suggesting that some of 2008’s numbers were driven by contract incentives and back pay.
    But there were also changes in who was grossing the top salaries.
    The salary lists released by the city include employee name and job title.
    The city’s top earner, who is frequently with the Police Department, was not a police officer this year. The top earner was Patrick Tremante, a retiring sewer maintenance supervisor, who took home $150,404 in gross pay; his base salary was $68,987.
    Tremante was the only city employee to take home more than $140,000 for 2009. In 2008, eight took home more than $140,000.
    The Police Department employed 29 of the 39 earners grossing more than $100,000 in 2009. Four of them were patrolmen. By comparison, in 2008, the Police Department had 52 employees who topped $100,000; 14 were listed as patrolmen.
    The top-paid patrolman for 2009 was Peter Mullen, who took home $104,722 in gross pay, coming in at 29th on the city’s list of top-paid employees. His base pay was $63,225.
    In 2008, the top-paid patrol officer was also the city’s highestpaid employee, Officer Dwayne Johnson, who grossed $168,921. But Johnson is now accused of not actually earning all of his gross pay. ..............>>>>..............>>>>......................http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....r01302&AppName=1