Payday: Who gets the most in Manchester?

The Union Leader reports:

Thirty-eight city employees earned more than $100,000 in calendar 2007. Another four school district workers will hit that mark in fiscal 2009.

Using the latest comprehensive lists available shows that being a municipal worker who earns a six-figure income is becoming more common.

While $100,000 may not be the benchmark status symbol it was roughly a generation ago, it still more than doubles the average, non-government, worker's wages in Manchester.

And the city is approaching its first $200,000 paycheck, as Manchester-Boston Regional Airport Director Mark Brewer, hired in January, pulls down $192,658. Brewer is now the city's highest-paid employee, replacing interim Airport Director Michael Farren, who retired late last year. Farren tops the 2007 list at $178,084.

Working off those 2007 numbers, former Fire Chief Joseph Kane came in a close second with a severance package that pushed his earnings to $173,867.

When he starts work July 1, incoming Schools Superintendent Thomas Brennan will become Manchester's second-highest paid worker at $155,000.

Sticking to the 2007 figures for city workers, police Capt. Richard Valenti followed Ferren and Kane, making $138,104. Recently retired Public Works Director Frank Thomas made $137,618 and City Solicitor Thomas Clark made $130,988 to round out the city's top five earners.

The next five highest-paid city employees were police Capt. Richard Tracy, $123,771; police Capt. Gerald Lessard, $123,723; new DPW Director Kevin Sheppard, $123,056; police emergency communications supervisor Steven Olson, $121,882; and fire Capt. Kris Soderberg, $121,506.

Half of the 38 $100,000-earners were in the Police Department, four in the Fire Department, four at the airport, two at public works, two in finance, two at water works, two in housing and one each in three other departments.

Another 59 city employees made between $90,000 and $99,999 in 2007, with 27 of them from police, 13 from fire, four at the airport, two in the school district and one each in 13 other departments.

Kane's pay was so high because it included his severance. The former fire chief's base pay was $118,790, but that was padded by a cash-out of unused vacation and sick time.

"The severance we've paid is amazing," said Dawna Rooks, the city's compensation manager.

Manchester paid $1.3 million in severance in fiscal 2007, and Rooks said this fiscal year will come in much higher.

The fiscal 2008 figure will include Kane and former department heads who have retired such as Police Chief John Jaskolka, Planning Director Robert MacKenzie, City Clerk Leo Bernier, Human Resources Director Virginia Lamberton and Ferren, the former assistant airport director.

Each of those former employees, except Bernier, was paid more than $100,000 in their last year of work. Bernier came in at $99,830.

The average weekly paycheck for a private industry worker in Manchester was $842 in 2006, the latest numbers available from the state's Economic and Labor Market Information Bureau.

That 2006 figure equates to an annual wage of $43,784, and state economist Ben Amsden said it's a safe bet that non-government wages in the city haven't changed much in two years.

"I would venture to guess they're fairly similar," said Amsden, who counts that as a positive when looking beyond city and state borders.

"New Hampshire is managing to steer a steady (economic) course," he said.

The benefits package for each city employee -- health, dental, FICA, retirement -- is an additional cost to the city and equates to roughly 35 percent of each employee's gross pay, said Rooks.

With 46 people earning at least $90,000 in 2007, the police department easily leads the city in high-end wages.

Every member of the department, except deputy chiefs and the chief, is eligible for overtime.

Detail work is also a large source of income. Those wages don't come from taxpayer dollars, but do factor into an employee's retirement that is based on an employee's three highest-earning years, said Rooks.

Several police captains, lieutenants and sergeants topped the $100,000 mark in 2007. Two officers also put in the hours to make that much.

Kenneth Sprague was the top earning officer in the department in 2007 at $105,683. Officer Terrence McKenzie made $100,699.

Sprague, a 17-year veteran, padded his $61,318 salary with roughly $8,000 in overtime and $36,000 in details.

McKenzie, a 21-year veteran, made a $63,169 salary and about $37,500 in overtime and details.