Brookline Town Salaries: Who Made The Most Money in 2017

BROOKLINE, MA — It's that time of year again.

The town’s payroll for 2017 showed that similar to last year, the top paid employees for the town and schools of Brookline included many of the usual suspects: the town administrator, the superintendent of schools, a couple deputy superintendents, the police and fire chiefs and the head of DPW.

When it came to the highest earners after detail work (mostly paid by third party contractors) and educational bonuses several police officers were among the highest incomes. The surprise this year, on account of a back up of a contract negotiation was that a couple firefighters also made the list.

Only about 3 percent of women employed on the town side made it into the top 100 highest earners (this is gross pay). When it came to the top 100 highest earners in the Brookline Public School District, 50 percent were women.

Base salaries?

This year the highest base salary for those employed by the Town of Brookline was Town Administrator Mel Kleckner's $198,366.11. The base salary does not include bonuses or other salary add-ons. As such, no town employee technically earned a base salary that broke the $200,000 mark. But 47 employees made a base salary of more than $100,000, including 11 women. Of the top 100, only 20 were women.

The School Department is factored on a separate list. Some 175 people made a base salary of $100,000 or more. And out of the top 10 earners from the school department, half were women. Of the top 100, around 62 percent were women.

Gross salaries?

That said, 17 town employees broke the $200,000 mark when you factor in salary adjustments; 13 of them were in the police department, three were in the fire department and one was in town hall. When looking at gross pay, 245 people made $100,000 or more. Also the highest grossing woman made $169,951.54 and was a police officer. Her base salary was $79,000. Of the top 100 highest grossing paid Brookline town employees, only three were women.

Of the top 100 highest gross paid town employees who all walked away with paychecks grossing more than $139,000, 56 did not make a base salary of more than $85,848.05.

And 243 people employed by the Brookline Public School District made more than $100,000 gross salary. None of them cracked the $200,000 mark. The same 10 who made the highest base salary also made the highest gross salary on the school side. And out of the top 10 earners from the school department, half were women.

What was different this year?

The big issue in 2017 was the four years worth of retroactive wage increases in the Fire Department.

“2017 was especially abnormal since the Fire Union received a large retroactive payment covering the prior four years,” said Kleckner.

Something else to consider: Private details and other benefits are not calculated into an employee’s pension allowance. And the money for those details are mostly paid by third-party contractors and benefits. Those police receive for higher education come from the town, but the state reimburses the town for half of that. [This paragraph has been edited to specify how much the town pay for when it comes to Quinn Bill, education incentive.]

Scroll through the names below for the info:

School department:

Andrew Bott, Superintendent of Public Schools
Base: $193,464.09
Gross: $197,265.46

Mary Ellen Normen, Deputy Superintendent of Schools
$177,805.66
$189,211.53

Samuel Zimmerman, Deputy Superintendent of Schools
$171,296.31
$182,426.12

Nicole Gittens, Deputy Superintendent of Schools
$166,255.79
$177,925.10

Anthony Meyer, Principal/ Headmaster at Brookline High School
$150,952.28
$160,691.65

Vicki Milstein, the head of Early Education department
$147,069.59
$157,975.84

Ben Lummis, Brookline School Administration
$143,889.14
$153,529.57

Mary Brown, Principal at the Baker School
$142,647.87
$151,953.22

Sujan Talukdar White, principal of the Driscoll School
$142,743.49
$147,162.34

Harold Mason, assistant headmaster at BHS
$136,040.86
$139,925.63

Town list: base pay top 10

Melvin Kleckner, Town Administrator
Base Pay: $198,366.11
1,950.00
21,104.18
1,927.50
Gross Pay: $219,470.29

Daniel O'Leary, Police Chief
$163,228.17
2,080.00
64,191.92
152.00
$227,420.09

Rob Ward, Fire Chief
$161,984.19
2,080.00
18,019.60
136.00
$180,003.79

Andrew Pappastergion, head of DPW

$159,550.84
1,950.00
12,645.33
82.50
$172,196.17

Frank Zecha, retired from the DPTHD
$149,113.02
1,950.00
21,963.25
277.50
$171,076.27

Kevin Stokes, IT
$149,113.00
1,950.00
11,885.29
142.50
$160,998.29

Mark Morgan, Deputy Superintendent Police
$148,079.54
2,080.00
50,977.54
136.00
$199,057.08

Joslin Murphy, town council
$146,863.07
1,950.00
13,892.77
165.00
$160,755.84

Myles Murphy, Police Patrol division
$136,130.73
2,080.00
39,101.56
56.00
$175,232.29

Michael Gropman, Deputy Superintendent Police
$136,120.60
2,080.00
39,792.20
96.00
$175,912.80

By Gross: Highest Earners in Brookline, Town, School

Colin O'Connell, Fire Department
Base: $120,743.38
4,421.00
31,884.44
347.00
21,622.50
472.50
64,716.23
84.00
$238,966.55

Michael MccArthy, Lt. Police officer in the Patrol division
Base: $97,593.60
2,150.50
19,728.53
305.00
Detail work: 93,990.00
Detail Hours: 2,078.00
26,922.05
32.00
$238,234.18

Paul Cullinane, Detective in the Police Dept.
Base: $97,723.08
2,184.00
43,007.47
521.00
Detail work: $59,540.00
Detail hours: 1,306.00
28,454.50
32.00
Gross: $228,725.05

Daniel O'Leary, Police Chief

Base: $163,228.17
2,080.00
64,191.92
152.00
$227,420.09

Robert Mayor, Police Officer, Patrol division
Base: $65,993.90
2,217.50
26,928.31
565.50
Detail work: 113,670.00
Detail hours: 2,526.00
15,410.32
56.00
Gross: $222,002.53

Mel Kleckner, Town Administrator
Base: $198,366.11
1,950.00
21,104.18
1,927.50
$219,470.29

Kevin Mealy, Police Lt., Patrol
Base: $95,320.09
2,134.00
18,859.16
271.50
Detail work: $64,520.00
Detail hours: 1,432.00
40,116.06
$218,815.31

Mike Raskin, Lt. Patrol
Base: $90,009.93
2,168.00
33,002.13
471.50
Detail work: 66,820.00
Detail hours: 1,458.00
28,139.07
344.00
$217,971.13

Ilya Gruber, Police Sgt
Base: $79,223.56
2,140.50
18,445.40
316.00
Detail work: $97,250.00
Detail Hours: 2,092.00
22,706.26
128.00
$217,625.22

Robert Nelson, Fire Department
Base: $120,743.39
4,421.00
32,681.52
365.00
15,570.00
330.00
48,037.67
$217,032.58

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Photo by Jenna Fisher/Patch