The Council's Top Earners
January 6th, 2009
Being the the speaker of the City Council’s right hand man can pay off, literally.
Her chief of staff, Charles Meara, is the council’s top earner, according to payroll figures released today by the Manhattan Institute. His salary of $194,132 beats out the speaker’s compensation, which is $141,000. A councilmember’s base salary is $112,500, and the speaker gets an extra “lulu” worth $28,500.
The other top earners on the West Side of the City Hall are other influential department heads, including the council’s legislative counsel and the director of its land use division.
The top ten are in full after the jump.
These figures were made available through the Empire Center for New York State Policy’s relatively new database: SeeThroughNY. Resembling the attorney general’s Project Sunlight, SeeThroughNY allows you to also search contracts and state expenditures, in addition to public payrolls.
It released its city payroll figures this morning. The figures do not include overtime.
Here are the top ten:
Charles Meara, Chief Of Staff, $194,132
Ramon Martinez III, Executive Legislative Coordinator, $191,664
Gail Benjamin, Director Of Land Use Division, $184,120
Gary Altman, Legislative Counsel, $183,966
Colleen Maritato, Deputy Director Of Council Services, $176,137
Michael Keogh (who is no longer with the council and was a casualty of the slush fund. Preston Niblack has his job now), Director Of Finance, $175,692
Elizabeth Fine, Director Legal Division/Gen Counsel& Spec Counsel. $170,368
James Caras, Legislative Counsel, $160,794
Preston Niblack, Director Of Finance, $160,000
Edward O Malley, Director Of Council Services Bureau, $159,720
By Courtney Gross on January 6, 2009, 3:42 pmIn category: Measuring UP, Public Finance | 1 Comment »


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