Brookline Town Salaries: Who Made The Most Money in 2019

BROOKLINE, MA — More than 30 town employees made more than $200,000 in 2019, and two broke the $300,000 mark, but only Town Manager Mel Kleckner's base salary topped the $200,000 mark, according to town data obtained by Patch.

Otherwise, the town's payroll for calendar year 2019 showed that the police department dominated the highest paid town employees, after factoring in non-salary bonuses, incentives, detail work and retro union payments.

Lt. Michael McCarthy an officer who works in the patrol division had a base salary of $102,804.83. But after overtime, detail work and other bonuses and payouts were factored in he walked away with a gross pay of $302,569.54 this year, making him the highest-paid employee in Brookline.

Right behind him was firefighter Gerald Alston, who was given back pay and interest resulting from a civil service decision, bumping his gross salary up to $302,269.82.

Similarly to past years, the employees with the highest salary for the town and schools included the town administrator, three deputy superintendents of schools (all women) the head of the Department of Public Works, the fire and police chiefs, the interim superintendent of schools as well as the IT department head.

Mary Ellen Normen, a deputy superintendent of schools, has the highest base salary of any woman employed with the town and the second-highest base salary overall. Town Counsel Joslin Murphy, town council, has the highest base salary of any woman working for the town who is not a school employee. Jennifer Paster, a lieutenant in the police department had the highest gross salary for a woman, or 31st overall.

When it came to the highest earners after detail work (mostly paid by third-party contractors), educational bonuses, overtime and retroactively paid union contracts, several police officers were among the highest earners. All 10 were men:

A look at the top 10 base salaries in Brookline for town employees:

In 2017, some 17 employees broke the $200,000 mark when salary adjustments such as overtime are factored in. In 2018, by contrast, only 12 employees earned more than $200,000, according to Town records. In 2019 that number went up to 31.

Town administrator Kleckner stressed there are a few factors that skew the data, limiting an “apples to apples” comparison of wages.

The majority of the pays in "other income" are contractual pay outside of base pay including Quinn and Non-Quinn payments, education and career incentives, longevity pays, EMT and other specialty pay, pay for uniform allowances, annual buyouts (think: vacation, sick bonuses), additional contract days, mentoring, advisors, after school sports, tutoring, workshops, as listed in collective bargaining. The pay also accounts for stipends and retro pay:

There were some retro payments for union bargaining units. Three years for police, two years for school custodians, and secretaries.

Here's a look at the full list via the Town of Brookline:

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• Brookline Town Salaries: Who Made The Most Money in 2018
• Who Made The Most Money in 2017

Patch reporter Jenna Fisher can be reached at Jenna.Fisher@patch.com or by calling 617-942-0474. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram (@ReporterJenna).