Through a combination of extra work that included overtime, holidays, details, and in some cases Quinn bill money, 13 police officers managed to at least double their base salaries.
Officer Fernando Cicerone, whose base pay was the smallest when compared with his final income, did not receive Quinn bill pay and was scheduled to earn $53,972. But that figure ballooned to $122,423 after factoring in $39,194 in detail hours, $7,030 for working night shifts, $3,941 in holiday work, and $12,048 in overtime, in addition to a smattering of sums for smaller-ticket benefits.
Police Chief Thomas Pasquarello stressed that private contractors - not the city - pay for most detail officers, who must stand watch over road work and at other events where public safety is required.
“I think one of the things that really is a bit confusing . . . the details are in essence a private job, a private responsibility,’’ he said, lamenting an “unfair’’ perception that the city foots the bill.
Pasquarello - who at $185,000 annual salary would have topped the list but was not hired until December 2010 - said most officers’ base salaries range near $75,000, and that the other streams of income - such as Quinn bill pay and stipends - are the product of longstanding collective bargaining agreements.
In all, about 96 percent of the roughly $14 million department budget pays for 131 sworn officers’ salaries, Pasquarello said.
Unlike firefighters, whose schedules are often conducive to part-time jobs or operating small businesses on the side, police are more often called back to work during off hours, Pasquarello said. He said injuries and prolonged absences can also force the department to pay more overtime hours, just one of several factors that are out of his control.
Court time, when officers are paid when they must appear to testify, is one volatile cost from year to year, Pasquarello said.
