County cops, GN employees top pay charts

Dan Glaun

Pay for Nassau County police officers and employees in several Great Neck villages neared the top of the charts in the 2012-2013 fiscal year, according to an analysis of statewide public worker salaries by the Empire Center for Public Policy, a fiscally conservative think tank.

Twelve of the 20 highest paid county and municipal employees in New York were Nassau County police officers, with officer Gary Renick notching second place on the list behind executive vice president of Suffolk County Community College George Gatta. 

Renick made a total of $306,299 in 2012-2013, and Nassau County had the highest average pay for county police forces in the state, coming in at $158,980.

Nassau County Police Benevolent Association President James Carver attributed the high salary figures to what he termed a “perfect storm” of extra overtime hours, due to a years-long department hiring freeze and the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.

“They have decided to put self-imposed hiring freezes on public safety, but the public still has to be protected,” Carver said. “If they were to hire other people you wouldn’t be seeing these high numbers.”

Caver said the department lost 500 officers during a hiring freeze that lasted from 2009 through this year for increased overtime, which he said led to higher average salaries. The county, he said, was responsible for the situation.

“Police officers are being criticized for making money that the municipality has put itself in a position that it has to pay,” Carver said.

According to a 2011 Wall Street Journal article, Nassau’s police contract includes benefits such free health care and up to five paid days off for officers who donate blood, in addition to above-average base salaries.

Though Carver acknowledged the role the union’s contract with the county plays in the department’s high compensation, he said the pay was warranted.

“Our compensation is what it is. It’s been fairly negotiated with elected officials over the years,” Carver said. “We live on Long island. It’s expensive to live on Long Island.”

Nassau police were not the only officers to make the Empire Center’s list. 

Among village police, Amityville topped the compensation charts with an average of $175,818 in pay. The Village of Kensington in Great Neck was not far behind, with an average of $171,062 being paid out to each of the department’s six employees.

As Blank Slate Media reported in January, eight of the top 20 highest paid village employees in the state of New York work for Great Neck police departments in 2012, and police officials in Kings Point, Great Neck Estates, Kensington and Lake Success out-earned NYPD Police Commissioner Ray Kelly that year.

Village of Kensington Mayor Susan Lopatkin said in January that village police departments provide more personal interaction with residents and pointed to the double shifts worked by village police during weeks-long outages that followed Hurricane Sandy as advantages in having a village police force.

“It’s an incalculable benefit,” Lopatkin said. ““You can’t put a price on that. Historically our village has felt very privileged to have our own police department.”

Lopatkin has also said the comparatively high police salaries predate her administration and that current compensation is the result of negotiations that concluded about a year and a half ago.

Great Neck villages also made some waves among non-police employees. 

The Villages of Thomaston and Kings Point placed third and fourth in salaries for general village employees, with Thomaston paying an average of $78,319 and Kings Point employees making an average of $75,750.

Thomaston Superindentent of Public Works William Mazurkiewicz made $116,154 and Thomaston Village Administrator Barbara Daniels earned $110,577 last fiscal year. 

In Kings Point, building inspector Richard Schilt took in $119,189 and Superintendent of Public Works Michael Moorhead was paid $113,514.

Reach reporter Dan Glaun by e-mail at dglaun@theislandnow.com, by phone at 516.307.1045 x203 or on Twitter @dglaun. Also follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/theislandnow.

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