Mayor Setti Warren was the 214th highest-paid employee, earning $97,500.
The city and schools have about 3,600 full- and part-time employees who are eligible to receive benefits. Newton also hires another 600 workers during the summer as lifeguards and to do other seasonal work.
Overall, in 2011 the city’s payroll increased by about 1 percent from the previous year to $191 million. But certain earnings categories saw larger jumps, including overtime and detail pay.
The city spent $4.7 million in overtime pay in 2011. School custodians, police officers, firefighters, electricians, and water and sewer main crews, among others, made thousands of dollars in overtime. The Fire Department had the most in overtime payments - $1 million - followed by police and schools.
The custodial overtime is driven in part by special events held at the schools. A portion of the overtime costs are paid for through facility usage fees that the schools charge groups, said Heather Richards, the district’s human resources director.
Overall, overtime pay increased by 12 percent from 2010, much of it due to the severe snowstorms last winter, said Dolores Hamilton, Newton’s human resources director.
Often those storms hit during the weekend and holidays and employees were called in to clear public parking lots and sidewalks in front of public buildings, Hamilton said.
Detail pay earned by police officers and firefighters also saw a spike of about 13 percent to $3.2 million from the previous year.
A significant number of city road projects last summer and new union contracts that increased the detail pay rate for private jobs likely contributed to the overall rise in the Police Department, said Chief Cummings.
The police officers union negotiated new contracts last summer that included a $5 increase to the detail pay rate, pushing it to $45 an hour. When officers provide traffic control for projects such as utility work, the private companies pick up the cost of the detail.
