The town’s top 10 highest earners in 2015 were all members of the Police
Department — an occurrence that’s become a trend over the past several
years.
At the top of the list were a detective and sergeant who retired last
year. They were among four members in the department to do so.
“It was a very abnormal year. We’ve had a few abnormal years,” Police
Chief Jim Hamilton said Friday. “Since July of 2012, we’ve hired 15 new
officers, but we’ve lost even more. We have fewer officers than we’ve
had in decades.”
The name, title, base salary and total pay of Rotterdam’s 10
highest-paid employees in 2015:
1. Christopher Foster, detective (retired), $66,160, $167,148
2. Willard Stearns Jr., sergeant (retired), $98,883, $156,647
3. Jason Murphy, lieutenant, $55,977, $146,798
4. James Hamilton, chief, $138,921, $145,094
5. Michael Brown, lieutenant, $106,082, $129,723
6. George Manikas, deputy chief, $122,736, $128,251
7. Jeffrey Collins, lieutenant, $96,927, $124,884
8. Richard Dunsmore, sergeant (retired), $66,694, $123,758
9. Steven Manikas, detective, $89,151, $119,027
10. Patricia Mahar, officer (retired), $32,039, $117,981
With five new officers hired in January, Hamilton said the department
expects to have 40 officers by the time they graduate from the academy
and two more retire this fall.
The chief said the department was aware of the coming retirements and
budgeted for the buyouts, which totaled over $300,000 in 2015.
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