Meet Hal Naughton, a 63-year-old career Democrat back-bench state rep. Earlier this year Naughton scored the ultimate dream job of all hacks – a $207,855-a-year basically no-show job as a state judge.

But now, in what is surely the most shocking event of the year in the hackerama, Naughton has done the unthinkable. After six months, he has resigned from his welfare sinecure.

To repeat, it’s all about the Benjamins.

I always say, it’s not that all Massachusetts judges are bad. It’s only that 98 percent of them who make the other 2 percent look bad.

What makes Naughton’s departure such a man-bites-dog story is that no hack state judge ever quits, for one simple reason. In Massachusetts, a lawyer becomes a judge only if he or she is starving to death while actually trying to practice law.

That’s why bust-out barristers scrape together enough cash to basically buy themselves that sinecure, an annuity. It’s all legal of course – campaign contributions, they’re called. As with so many other things, the scandal about buying judgeships is not what is illegal, it’s what is legal.

Naughton, however, appears to be the first judge appointed in living memory who was in fact able to make some real dough – even if his score did apparently come as a surprise, because otherwise why would he have bothered to kiss all the rear ends he had to grab his early retirement.

In his prior small-time, small-town practice, Naughton somehow stumbled into a mega-settlement. Suddenly that $207,855-a-year slot on the dole, I mean the bench, looked like small change.

As a lawyer, Naughton was involved in a multi-billion-dollar civil suit in which local water utilities sued some very deep-pocketed chemical companies, including DuPont and 3M.

As part of the settlement, a motion has just been filed for legal fees and costs of $95 million.

In his letter of resignation, Naughton said he was making a decision that was “best for my children.”

It took a while, but I finally tracked the judge emeritus down. I asked him the only question that anybody cares about right now. How much is he grabbing out of the settlement’s $95 million in legal fees?

“I have no idea,” Naughton said.

Ten million?

“Oh geez, I don’t know about that!”

Five million?

“Really, I have no idea. You know, I had worked on that case for five years. It was coming to fruition.”

Yeah, I said, but you must be looking at some mega-bucks here, because you could have been a judge until you’re 70, which is over $2 million right there, for doing absolutely nothing.

And behind that comes the pension, plus after retirement you can stay on as a part-timer.

Not bad, I said, for a part-time job. I specifically used that word part-time, to bait him, because these judges always claim they’re working hard, as opposed to hardly working. But when I said “part-time,” twice, all Naughton did was chuckle.

I guess that’s the way it is when you hit the lottery. Suddenly a lot of what you used to bother you is no longer such a pressing concern.

I mentioned again to Naughton about how great it must be to make $207,855 a year for working part-time.

“It is a dream job.”

And do you know why it’s such a “dream” job? Because as a judge you get more time than people who have real jobs to actually dream, because not ever having to actually go to work means you can sleep late every morning.

And since you never work after lunch, you can take a nap every afternoon. For a Massachusetts judge, every day is like that line from the old Lovin’ Spoonful song – “What a day for a day dream!”

I told Naughton that I was going to write that he is about to collect “millions” of dollars. Agree or disagree, Judge?

“I don’t know. It remains to be seen.”

He says that the court case with $95 million in legal fees was “my baby, my case. It’s gonna clean up water for a lot of people.”

Yeah, and speaking of cleaning up, that’s exactly what a handful of lawyers are going to do. Which is how these civil cases always end up.

When I heard that Naughton was, literally, cashing out, I assumed that he would go out like the hack he is — grabbing another fat kiss in the mail, in the form of what is known in hack judicial circles as “involuntary disability provision.”

It’s the hack judges’ dirty little secret – a governor can designate an extinguished jurist as no longer able to perform his, uh, duties, and sort of de-commission him or her. The order then goes to the hock shop known as the Governor’s Council, which rubber-stamps it.

Automatic pension! Forget vesting! Disability – no taxes! It’s the hackerama!

Since 1991, 14 judges have checked out on the involuntary disability provision gag. Two of the tragically affected judges were, like Naughton, ex-state reps, another was a former mayor and a fourth was the top fundraiser for a governor.

These judges all had diseases, like kleptomania. Under Paul Cellucci, a payroll patriot named Donovan beat an OUI rap and then checked out on the grounds that his “obsessive-compulsive disorder” compelled him to “hours of handwashing.”

Well, at least the water will be clean now. Thanks Judge Naughton!

Another judge claimed that subjecting her to showing up for as many as 15-20 hours a week, 35 weeks a year – the usual judicial workload – amounted to “knowingly subjecting her to further traumatic events (a model for torture).”

I naturally assumed that Naughton, as a 25-year solon, who served under three convicted-felon House speakers and a fourth, unindicted co-conspirator, would be continuing the tradition. But no.

“The way it was explained to me,” he said, “you have to spend X number of years to get the judicial pension.”

And sure enough, he just quit, with no involvuntary blah-blah-blah. Naughton fed at the trough, but unlike all his colleagues in both the legislative and judicial branches, apparently he’s not planning to lick the plate.

So farewell, Hal Naughton. Enjoy the Benjamins. At least for once they won’t be coming directly out of my pocket.

(Order Howie’s new book, “Paper Boy: Read All About It!” at howiecarrshow.com or amazon.com.)

A Herald analysis of the added hours shows 11 employees — including Transit Police officers — already eclipsing $100,000-plus in OT, state Comptroller records show.

Another 160 more T employees have punched in for at least $50,000 in added pay so far this year.

The Herald has requested a sit-down interview with MBTA General Manager Phillip Eng to ask how transit employees can work such daunting hours and still perform at maximum efficiency. Or, if there are other factors allowing them to rack up such hefty bonus pay year after year.

The Comptruller’s CTHRU payroll-tracking site shows the MBTA is by far the tops in overtime this year, with the State Police coming in second at $46.02 million in OT hours.

The state Department of Correction is at $40.83 million as that agency struggles again with capping added hours.

MassDOT, DMH, DDS, DCF, and the Suffolk Sheriff’s Department fall in behind with all of them above $13 million in overtime so far this year.

T workers clocked in with $99.07 million in OT last year and $85.29 million the year before, Comptroller records show.

The 2020 pandemic year saw overtime slip to $81.37 million after hitting $96.17 million in 2019, records show.

If you have a news tip, email joed@bostonherald.com and we will investigate.

To search on this database, click the magnifying glass icon (at right) and enter names and more. Swipe right to move the data over to sort by highest to lowest. Send any tips or questions to joed@bostonherald.com. Go here for more databases…

In 2022, 49 city employees made more than $300,000, 771 over $200,000 and 9,101 over $100,000, with the increases particularly driven by newly-settled contracts and “other” pay.

Those marks are higher than in the past two years. In 2021, 40 made more than $300,000, further up from 35 in 2020. For $200,000, those numbers were 744 and 733 over 2021 and 2020. And the total making six figures rose to the current tally from 8,708 in 2021 and 8,451 in 2020.

It’s that time of the year again: the late-winter present the city drops annually in the form of the entire payroll for the previous calendar year. Released this week, the new data shows the above numbers, plus a larger total payroll and number of people getting money from the city.

Overall, the city’s payroll in 2022 was $1.93 billion, up from $1.87 billion and $1.82 billion the previous two years. The total number of people receiving checks also rose, hitting 23,204 in 2022, with the city paying 22,546 and 21,858 the previous two years.

The median salary for city workers has nudged up just slightly, now at around $79,300, up from $78,400 and $78,900 the previous two years.

The three top earners each have already been in the headlines. Number one is Lt. Detective Donna Gavin, who won a big lawsuit over gender discrimination against the city in 2020.

Then there’s former Boston Schools Superintendent Breda Cassellius, who reached a separation agreement with the city after Mayor Michelle Wu took over. Cassellius — listed in the payroll data with a Minneapolis ZIP code, as she returned to her homeland of the North Star State after she and the district split — made $596,949.44, including $417,839.83 in “other” pay following the separation agreement.

The Herald previously reported that under the agreement she was due at least $311,000.

Then next is Jack Dempsey, the Boston Fire Department commissioner who retired halfway through the year and in total brought home $446,406.31. That included $312,752.53 in “other” pay.

Rounding out the top five are cops Lt. Detective Stanley Demesmin and Lt. Sean Smith, who made $397,258.69 and $386,054.33 on the backs of big-money overtime pay. Demesin made more than $196,000 and Smith more than $142,000 in OT last year, good for second-highest and 10th-highest citywide respectively.

That category of “other” pay that propelled the likes of Gavin, Cassellius and Dempsey to the top was unusually high this year, continuing a trend. That mark hit $74.5 million last year, up from $65.1 million the previously year and $57.3 million the one before that.

City officials chalked that largely up to Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund — ESSER — pay, which is federal pandemic-era cash intended to help teachers. The officials said that one-off pay was counted as “other” for payroll purposes.

Officials pointed to this as one notable element of the new payroll data, with the other being that it shows the effect of most of the city’s union contracts getting resolved. Wu — who herself makes $207,000 as mayor — came into office with essentially all contracts open, and now all the big ones besides uniformed police and fire are closed.

That’s why, the city says, pay rose in general, and why retro pay also spiked. That’s at $8.7 million last year, up from $6.5 million the previous year and just $352,000 last year.

To search on this database, click the magnifying glass icon (at right) and enter names and more. Swipe right to move the data over to sort by highest to lowest. Send any tips or questions to joed@bostonherald.com. Go here for more databases…

For the first time, the two top bosses are also piloting the quasi-state agency at the lofty pay of $400,000 a year.

The payroll for quasi-state agencies, autonomous fiefdoms that run with various degrees of taxpayer underwriting, has just been updated for 2022 and Massport leads the way with 716 employees who earned $100,000 or more — a 29.24% increase in one year, state Comptroller records show.

The two top Massport executives, CEO Lisa Wieland and Director of Aviation Edward Freni, now make $417,609 and $413,678, respectively.

The climbing pay is the latest example of public payrolls in the state ballooning, mostly due to rampant overtime, but also the result of pay hikes. As the Herald has reported in the New Year in the annual “Your Tax Dollars at Work” report, there seems to be no ceiling.

“The state seems to be running out of control,” said MassFiscal’s Paul Craney, a longtime watchdog who is sounding the alarm on big pay in big government.

“There’s a lot of people trying to test the new governor to see if she’s willing to stand up for the taxpayers or even care,” he added. “It’s overwhelming. No one seems too concerned in this massive growth in payroll.”

A Massport spokeswoman said business is booming at the airport and port now that the pandemic is on the slide.

“In the last year, Massport’s business activity rose significantly, with passenger growth at Logan up by 60%. Total staffing remains below our pre-pandemic number and Massport implemented a furlough program (effective pay cut) in 2021. We are actively competing with other organizations and the private sector to recruit top talent,” the agency said in an emailed statement.

This all comes as some “eye-popping” overtime was doled out last year, as the Herald first reported last month.

Those big OT winners — usually dominated by State Police — now include nurses, MBTA workers and corrections officers. The pandemic with all its COVID testing and protocols must be a factor, but the hours add up fast.

The pay ranged from $478,172 for a Department of Mental Health nurse (who claimed $295,189 in overtime) to a state trooper paid $334,083 last year ($197,732 in OT).

Even the state Legislature is getting into the pay-hike habit, where stipends range from around $7,000 to nearly $90,000. That’s serious cash that’s basically doubling Speaker Ron Mariano’s and Senate President Karen Spilka’s pay with $109,163 stipends for holding court in those top jobs.

The king of the hill, as is true every year, remains the UMass system — home to the highest-paid public employees in Massachusetts, with three top earners all pushing past $1 million a year. They are all doctors who teach or run the medical school.

But, The UMass system had 4,447 employees who earned $100,000 and up, records show.

It’s your tax money, and it’s being spent from the big agencies to the semi-secret, quasi-state offices.

Go to bostonherald.com to view all the public payrolls and now Massport’s.

To search on this database, click the magnifying glass icon (at right) and enter names and more. Use the scroll bar at the bottom to move the data over to the right to sort by highest to lowest. Send any tips or questions to joed@bostonherald.com. Follow the Watchdog newsletter for related coverage.

To search on this database, click the magnifying glass icon (at right) and enter names and more. Use the scroll bar at the bottom to move the data over to the right to sort by highest to lowest. Send any tips or questions to joed@bostonherald.com. Go here for the “Your Tax Dollars at Work” homepage for more.

It’s the same basically across state government with those in charge grabbing a lion’s share of the extra hours. Out of the 20 top OT earners in the transportation department who all took home an extra $70,000 or more last year in bonus pay, all but one are male. They are also listed as “supervisor,” “foreman” or “coordinator.”

In total, three transportation officials earned $200,000 and up in 2022 while almost 1,400 earned $100,000 or more with OT a major driver of that take-home income, payroll records show.

MassDOT said Thursday evening OT is doled out due to a few factors.

“Overtime is distributed based on the operational needs of the assigned unit and the collective bargaining agreements of staff,” the department told the Herald.

“Generally,” they added, “supervisors tend to generate higher levels of overtime due to the requirements of their positions which require them to be present to supervise staff for operations that may occur after hours such as emergency and planned roadside maintenance and storm events.”

As the Herald has reported this month as part of the 16th year of the “Your Tax Dollars at Work” report, overtime is being paid out across state government at a record pace.

Why? One expert says the labor crunch is opening up opportunities for those with jobs that require training.

“The huge labor shortage, in general, has been exacerbated in transit due to the long training required and that can lead to overtime for others,” said Professor Ruth Milkman of the City University of New York.

“During the pandemic, a lot of people got sick died or left,” Milkman, a labor researcher, explained saying there’s little big bosses can do but shell out OT.

The alternative, she added, is hiring more workers and training them quickly. “But that is going to take time,” she added. Pay is also a factor as employers compete for skilled labor.

That means the big OT winners in Massachusetts government — usually dominated by State Police — now include nurses, MBTA workers and corrections officers.

The state’s overtime budget pushed some past $300,000 in total pay last year — with two eclipsing $400,000 in gross income.

To search on this database, click the magnifying glass icon (at right) and enter names and more. Use the scroll bar at the bottom to move the data over to the right to sort by highest to lowest. Send any tips or questions to joed@bostonherald.com. Follow the Watchdog newsletter for related coverage.

Three top earners last year pushed their pay past $300,000 with the bonus hours and were quickly followed by 26 mostly fellow prison officers who took home $200,000 and up in gross pay thanks to OT, payroll records show.

It’s the latest example of overtime being spent across the commonwealth at eye-popping rates, as the Herald first reported last week.

DOC spokesman Jason Dobson said the mission is “balancing its security needs and fiscal responsibilities.” He did not address, however, if the extensive hours clocked put guards or inmates at risk.

“There are circumstances when overtime is required to ensure the safety of those living and working in secure facilities. Overtime needs fluctuate for a variety of reasons including but not limited to attrition, illness, inmate hospital trips and retirement,” he added.

Dobson, deputy director of communications, did say the DOC is looking for recruits.

“The Department remains focused on recruiting, training, and activating classes of new, diverse candidates. In the last 4 months, we have engaged prospective candidates at more than 50 job fairs, civil service informational sessions and career days,” he added.

It’s clear from the data that some guards are going for all the OT they can grab.

A Herald payroll analysis — part of the “Your Tax Dollars at Work” report — found that prison guards with modest base pay from $82,000 and up still earned $200,000 or more from extra hours.

It was once the State Police who dominated the annual list of overtime earners, but a crackdown on abuse has eased those rolls. Now the OT also includes the guards, a few nurses and MBTA workers.

One Department of Correction guard told the Herald a week ago a few colleagues seem to be the ones who jump on all the OT.

“A couple of us do a lot of hours,” said DOC officer Edward Johansen, who earned $215,168 in overtime finishing with $313,896 in total pay, Comptroller records show.

“I have 10-year-old twins and after 10 years your body gets used to” the lack of sleep, he added. “I eat right. I do my job,” he said when pressed if he can work all those hours and not see any slip in his performance.

He added he’ll probably ease up in the coming year. Others, however, did not return messages left by the Herald seeking answers to the same questions.

Go to bostonherald.com to view every DOC salary and 160,000-plus more state employee pay. Send tips to joed@bostonherald.com.

To search on this database, click the magnifying glass icon (at right) and enter names and more. Use the scroll bar at the bottom to move the data over to the right to sort highest to lowest. Go to the “Your Tax Dollars at Work” homepage for more payrolls.

That’s all according to the latest payroll report from the state Comptroller that’s being analyzed this month by the Herald in the annual “Your Tax Dollars at Work” report.

The UMass system had 4,447 employees who earned $100,000 and up, records show.

That includes three million-dollar earners plus three who pulled down $800,000 or more; seven who made at least $600,000; nine at $500,000-plus; 25 at $400,000 and beyond; and 102 who topped $300,000.

You can see all this and more for yourself at bostonherald.com. And, all tips welcome to newstips@bostonherald.com.

It’s your tax money, we just chase where it’s all going.

That wish didn’t happen last year.

The UMass system had 4,447 employees who earned $100,000 and up, records show.

That includes three million-dollar earners plus three who pulled down $800,000 or more; seven who made at least $600,000; nine at $500,000-plus; 25 at $400,000 and beyond; and 102 who topped $300,000.

The UMass football coach and other assorted presidents and provosts quickly followed.

The three UMass system big winners who pulled down more than $1 million in 2022 included two medical school leaders and the new UMass Amherst basketball coach.

The million-dollar hires include:

• Dr. Michael Collins, paid $1.28 million as the chancellor of the UMass Chan Medical School in Worcester. He’s also a professor.
• Dr. Terence Flotte, who earned $1.13 million as executive deputy chancellor, provost and dean at the medical school.
• Head men’s basketball coach Francisco Martin. The team is off to a strong 9-4 start.

A UMass spokesman did not respond with a comment — including questions about a UMass nurse who pulled down $205,535 in OT last year boosting her take-home pay to $348,045, as the Herald reported.

Civil liberties litigator Harvey Silverglate, long a critic of the college system, said the problem is bigger than OT for nurses.

He told the Herald the “massive increase in college administrators” has sent tuition skyrocketing and free speech plummeting.

“When you have an army of basically useless administrators needing something to do … independent liberty is sacrificed,” he said. “They are wrecking what college should be. We need independent thinking.”

Silverglate is running for the Harvard Board of Overseers to try and turn the college back, and hopefully others will follow, to what higher education should be about, he added.

“We don’t need students to parrot the college line, we need independent thinking,” he said, and less “Orwellian thought control.”

UMass, according to a recent announcement, ranks 28th among all U.S. public universities and is the top public university in New England.

Two University of Massachusetts programs – Life Sciences at No. 78 and Computer Science at No. 85 – both ranked in the top 100 worldwide, according to a fall survey.

The University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School is also home to a Nobel Prize winner Professor Craig C. Mello — who is not listed on the payroll and, according to past reports, is paid by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

To search on this database, click the magnifying glass icon (at right) and enter names and more. Use the scroll bar at the bottom to move the data over to the right to sort by highest to lowest. Send any tips or questions to joed@bostonherald.com. Follow the Watchdog newsletter for related coverage.

This project has evolved but the foundation remains the same — we let readers scan the data at bostonherald.com and see where taxes are being spent. Most of the databases originate from the state Comptroller’s office. We then dig for stories and chase tips.

In 2023, we’ll be using the state’s Public Records Law — let’s see if incoming Gov. Maura Healey takes down the Executive Branch exemption — to dig for more. Federally, we use the Freedom of Information Act, that John Kerry ignores. But that’s another story.

We always rely on readers to point us in the right direction. All tips welcome to newstips@bostonherald.com or, as a virtual open-door policy, joed@bostonherald.com.

Those Top 10 OT earners all sent their base pay into orbit by clocking in bonus hours, a Herald payroll analysis shows.

It’s a tally watchdogs are saying can’t be sustained and most likely isn’t giving taxpayers their money’s worth.

“Someone needs to take ownership. We have a new governor and the first thing she can do is help taxpayers because on face value, this seems impossible to attain,” said Mass Fiscal’s Paul Craney of Gov.-Elect Maura Healey. “She needs to rein in unsupervised spending.”

The big OT winners — usually dominated by State Police — now include nurses, MBTA workers and corrections officers. The pandemic with all its COVID testing and protocols must be a factor, but the hours add up fast.

One Department of Correction guard told the Herald Tuesday night a few colleagues jumped on the overtime up for grabs.

“A couple of us do a lot of hours,” said DOC officer Edward Johansen, who earned $215,168 in overtime finishing with $313,896 in total pay, Comptroller records show.

“I have 10-year-old twins and after 10 years your body gets used to” the lack of sleep, he added. “I eat right. I do my job,” he said when pressed if he can work all those hours and not see any slip in his performance.

He added he’ll probably ease up in the coming year. Others, however, did not return messages left by the Herald seeking answers to the same questions.

Some in state government are wondering what kind of performance can be expected by those logging in at such a rapid rate. And who, if anyone, is keeping tabs on all the OT.

“These sky-high overtime payments are absolutely mind-boggling,” said Mary Connaughton of the Pioneer Institute. “The public should demand to know how overtime is approved and how supervisors are satisfied these staff can perform effectively in high-risk jobs working so many hours.”

Connaughton, director of government transparency at the Pioneer think tank, added that “when state workers earn more in OT than in base pay, taxpayers deserve answers.”

T spokesman Joe Pesaturo has defended the hefty overtime — and the “forepersons” who dominate the list of top earners — by saying it’s all part of the T’s “aggressive plans to accelerate safety improvements.”

The DOC has also said, “the department remains focused on recruiting, training, and activating classes of new, diverse candidates.” As for state prisons, they say not to worry they all have “appropriate staffing.”

Closing down MCI-Cedar Junction in Walpole over the next two years will also help staffing at other prisons, the DOC added.

In all, 220 state employees earned $100,000 or more last year in overtime pay, records show. Dozens more came close punching in for $80,000 to $90,000 in OT.

Gov. Charlie Baker earned $184,999 — with no overtime despite working seven days a week at times.

This is the first in a series of stories the Herald will be writing as part of the “Your Tax Dollars at Work” project. Go to bostonherald.com to see databases of state payrolls. If you have a tip, email joed@bostonherald.com. 

To search on this database, click the magnifying glass icon (at right) and enter names and more. Use the scroll bar at the bottom to move the data over to the right to sort by highest to lowest. Send any tips or questions to joed@bostonherald.com. Follow the Watchdog newsletter for related coverage.

To search on this database, click the magnifying glass icon (at right) and enter names and more. Use the scroll bar at the bottom to move the data over to the right to sort by highest to lowest. Send any tips or questions to joed@bostonherald.com. Follow the Watchdog newsletter for related coverage.

Look for more as this list grows:

• 2021 data page…
• MBTA Carmen’s Union pension payments NEW…
• City of Boston 2022 pay with overtime…
• Massport and quasi-agency 2022 pay…
• MBTA 2022 payroll…
• UMass system pay for 2022…
• Dept of Correction 2022 payroll…
• MassDOT 2022 payroll…
• City of Everett 2022 payroll…

The T is leading the way with $67.5 million spent so far this year on extra hours, the Comptroller’s Office reports. And more capital improvements are on the fast track.

The State Police, at $41.59 million, pulls up next, followed by the Department of Correction, mostly guards, who have locked up $41.4 million in OT this year.

The Department of Mental Health is next at $25 million and UMass, by far the state’s largest employer, has claimed a modest, for them, $11.54 million in extra hours.

But it’s the Top 10 OT earners that have watchdogs wondering how anyone can function at peak efficiency working all those shifts.

“These staggering overtime payments defy imagination,” said Mary Connaughton of the Pioneer Institute, a Massachusetts research organization that espouses limited government and free markets. “How can employees possibly be productive if they are working so many hours that their OT doubles their base pay?”

The Herald posed that question to T officials this summer as the Orange Line work was about to commence.

T spokesman Joe Pesaturo defended the hefty overtime — and the “forepersons” who dominate the list of top earners — by saying it’s all part of the T’s “aggressive plans to accelerate safety improvements.”

Connaughton, director of government transparency at the Pioneer think tank, has her doubts.

“The public deserves to know the thought process behind these mind-boggling decisions to approve OT at sky-high levels,” she said.

The DOC said “the department remains focused on recruiting, training, and activating classes of new, diverse candidates.” As for state prisons, they say not to worry they all have “appropriate staffing.”

Closing down MCI-Cedar Junction in Walpole over the next two years will also help staffing at other prisons, the DOC added.

But a few clock-punching guards are cashing in, records show.

So far this year, total pay has eclipsed $300,000 for two state employees in the waning days of summer. That includes a T foreman who has earned $211,740 in overtime, bringing his total pay to $318,733 as of the end of this week.

Right behind him was a Department of Mental Health nurse who has put in for $204,674 in overtime for a 2022 payout to date of $341,512.

Three DOC officers have pushed past $140,000 in overtime, with plenty more paychecks to go in 2022. Other MBTA workers and State Police troopers round out the Top 10 overtime earners who put in for between $144,000 to $160,000 in overtime, records show.

This all hits as the U.S. stock market is suffering one of its worst weeks and inflation worries dog the economy. New hires are hard to come by, employers are still saying, but costs are climbing beyond what many households can afford.

It’s also forcing consumers to start watching their bank accounts — especially with the winter fast approaching and heating bills will have homeowners turning red and bundling up the family on cold nights.

Send all news tips to joed@bostonherald.com.

To search on this database, click the magnifying glass icon (at right) and enter names and more. Use the scroll bar at the bottom to move the data over to the right to sort by highest to lowest. Send any tips or questions to joed@bostonherald.com. Go to the main “Your Tax Dollars at Work” page for more databases.

$203,500 Sec. Walsh

$183,100 Dan Koh, chief of staff*

$183,100 Joshua Orton, senior policy advisor

$183,100 Allison Zelman, deputy chief of staff

$183,100 Mary Smith, senior counselor

$179,700 Yvette Meftah, director of unemployment

* Koh is now moving to the West Wing as deputy cabinet secretary.

See all the salaries and other databases at bostonherald.com.

To search on this database, click the magnifying glass icon (at right) and enter names and more. Use the scroll bar at bottom to move the data over to the right to sort by highest to lowest. Send tips to joed@bostonherald.com. Follow the Watchdog newsletter for more.

To search on this database, click the magnifying glass icon (at right) and enter names and more. Use the scroll bar at the bottom to move the data over to the right to sort by highest to lowest. Send any tips or questions to joed@bostonherald.com. Follow the Watchdog newsletter for related coverage.

The new payroll report for last year released Friday afternoon shows a 3% jump in six-figure pay in city government with 8,708 taking home $100,000 or more.

Topping that list are two police officers who earned $1.2 million each due to back pay from court settlements.

Patrolmen Richard Beckers and Jacqueline McGowan were among six patrolmen the Massachusetts Civil Service Commission ruled were wrongfully terminated between 2001 and 2006 based on a controversial hair test for drugs.

They both have a tax headache, but their pay has been reinstated — with both banking $1,264,843 and $1,252,990, respectively.

They were not alone in high pay. The city payroll shows 2,905 teachers were among that group. The highest-paid teacher chalked up $191,367 in 2021, records show.

The Herald has learned city unions are close to agreeing to contracts that will award workers about a 2% pay hike across the board. And that will come with back pay due.

“This is just making Boston unaffordable for many people and less attractive to businesses,” said the Pioneer Institute’s Greg Sullivan, a former state inspector general.

“This drives property taxes higher,” Sullivan added, saying Boston is not alone with high municipal pay. “This rapid growth of salaries puts pressure on the system and can only be matched by raising taxes.”

He also pointed out the $100,000-a-year teacher in Boston is becoming “a reality.”

The educators who clock over $100,000 a year are spread out all over the public school system. Elementary school teachers are in this group, as are Boston Arts and Boston Evening academy teachers. Both Boston Latin high schools and Brighton High have their share of high earners, as does Burke, Charlestown, East Boston, Fenway, Madison Park, Excel and English High.

A city insider told the Herald he was “surprised” by the number of employees pulling down $100,000. It’s not just police officers who stand alone atop the list. They do add to their pay with details that are often paid by companies requesting the shifts.

“You will have a lot of people being added to the list of $100,000 earners once the unions settle,” the Herald was told. “Then they start negotiating right away for every single union.”

Mayor Michell Wu has already clashed with unions during the pandemic, with her administration announcing Friday they are appealing the court ruling that’s paused the city’s enforcement of the employee coronavirus vaccine mandate.

But it’s all part of the public employee push for higher salaries that is playing out at Massport, 554 employees earned $100,000 or more, and on the state level where even state senators and reps get their share — with one topping $200,000 last year.

Go scan all city pay today at bostonherald.com. The Herald’s Sean Philip Cotter contributed to this report.

$1.2M paid to two police officers in back-pay settlements

8,700 city employees earned $100,000 and up last year

2,905 teachers were among that group ($191,367 was the top teacher pay)

11,718 earned $75,000 and up

60 employees earned $100,000 or more in overtime (wire inspectors and police)

1 police officer earned $400,000-plus

2 mayors (Michelle Wu, Kim Janey) earned $100,000 and up for council and mayoral pay

37 police and fire workers took home $300,000 or more

Scan the full payroll here…

To search on this database, click the magnifying glass icon (at right) and enter names and more. Use the scroll bar at the bottom to move the data over to the right to sort by highest to lowest. Send any tips or questions to joed@bostonherald.com. Follow the Watchdog newsletter for related coverage.

A total of 554 employees earned $100,000 or more last year, payroll records show. That’s down from last year. The top earners, however, remain mostly the same.

Director of Aviation Edward Freni topped everyone at $397,596 in gross pay. Following close behind was CEO Lisa Wieland, at $339,230, and Director of Administration and Finance John Pranckevicius also in that stratosphere at $304,331.

“Despite the pandemic, 2021 was a busy year for Massport,” said spokeswoman Jennifer Mehigan, who earned $167,058.

She defended the pay scale at the quasi-state agency — that operates Logan International Airport, Worcester Airport, and Boston’s massive port operation — saying “no administrative (non-union) employees received a wage increase in 2020 or 2021.”

Like many in the private sector, she added, “most participated in a furlough program.” She also said 58% of employees earned less than $100,000.

But EMTs and firefighters at Massport padded their pay in 2021 with “hazmat pay, holiday pay and detail pay.” In a few cases, that came out to $100,000 in extra dollars pushing a few in that department past $200,000 for the year.

“Consistently firefighters and electricians have been high OT earners due to the 24/7 nature of our facilities and FAA requirements for airports,” Mehigan said. “Due to COVID, OT was often used to cover employees out sick or who had an exposure. Total OT only increased $300,000 year over year.”

But unlike other quasi-state agencies, Massport does file its payroll annually with the state Comptroller’s office that keeps a close eye on the salaries paid out.

“The Office of the Comptroller provides any quasi-governmental agency with access to our transparency records portal, CTHRU, to easily publish spending and payroll data,” a spokesman said.

But that offer to help all quasi-state fiefdoms did not add new salaries to the database this year, the Comptroller’s office told the Herald Friday. There is no state law requiring them to do so, however. And there is no official list of all the quasi-state agencies.

The Pioneer Institute’s Greg Sullivan said a year ago he was on a task force set up by former Gov. Deval Patrick to look into quasi-state agencies. He was a state inspector general then, but all his recommendations went to the Legislature — where they have gathered dust.

“These agencies are shrouded in secrecy,” he added, “and act as if they are a fourth branch of government.”

The Comptroller’s site lists Logan Airport tops Massport’s list of salaries, with administration followed by the maritime operation leaving Hanscom and Worcester airports to bring up the rear.

Massport reports Logan served 22.7 million passengers, on 266,034 flights, in 2021 as the traveling public returns to the skies as the pandemic cools.

To search on this database, click the magnifying glass icon (at right) and enter names and more. Use the scroll bar at the bottom to move the data over to the right to sort by highest to lowest.

Could you use an extra $70,530 a year — for a “job” where you never, ever have to show up, where the actual place where you would theoretically “work” hasn’t even been open to the public for two years now?

And that $70,530 a year — that’s minimum wage for a state legislator, you understand. They’re all also grabbing at least $16,245 for “travel expenses,” even though they’re not traveling to Boston anymore.

And most of them have also been handed even more money for some phony-baloney so-called leadership position, running committees that just rubber-stamp what they’re ordered to do.

Did I mention that if a legislator lives more than 50 miles from the State House, he or she can write off most of their federal income taxes, just like almost all members of Congress do?

And then there’s the campaign committee you can set up, which allows you to write off almost all your expenses. You can even buy gift cards for your constituents, who might very well happen to be your parents … or your girlfriend. You can charge all your bar tabs – just ask Rep. Mark Cusack, D-Braintree.

If you could use a little – actually, a lot of — free money, no strings attached, perhaps you should consider running for the Massachusetts state Legislature. It’s the easiest gig this side of being an illegal immigrant.

Right now the state Republicans are looking for a few good men and women who’d like to grab some free money, I mean, enter public service.

Consider the State House – people used to joke that it was the only place in the world where people said, “Have a nice weekend” on Wednesdays. Another saying was that you could fire a cannon down the halls on Thursdays and Fridays and not hit anyone.

Now those jokes apply 365 days a year. Sometime in February or March 2020, everyone at the State House looked around at their fellow payroll patriots and said, “Have a nice life!”

The building has been closed ever since. And no one has missed a single paycheck.

Massfiscal.org has been trying to recruit Republican candidates, even advertising on my radio show. They’ve been stressing the “part-time” state senator from Arlington who made $220,544 last year. She said it was an accounting error — wink wink nudge nudge.

But I think an even better poster gal for the rewards, shall we say, of public service might be Sen. Harriette Chandler of Worcester, who last week announced her impending retirement at the tender age of 84.

The solons used to get reimbursed for every day they drove to work, on a scale — $5 if you lived around the corner, $50 if you were from, say, Berkshire County. It went up and up and up … but these “per diems” were always embarrassing, because the statesmen had to file paperwork with the treasurer for their dough. And reporters could check up.

Years ago, the Herald discovered that the solon from East Boston had filed for his $5 per diem while he was in Rome — Italy, not New York. The rep couldn’t believe he was being called out.

“For five bucks,” he told the reporter, “you’re going to croak me?”

So the hacks got rid of the per diems and just gave everybody a set amount per year — $15,000 if you lived within 50 miles, or $20,000 if you lived more than 50 miles away.

Which brings us back to Harriette Chandler. When the shift was made, she realized she was on the edge of the 50-mile line. Her local newspaper did a check of Google Maps. The quickest route from her home to the State House came in at 49.7 miles.

The alternate route, adding I-495 to her commute, came in at 53.1 miles.

Care to guess which route one Madame President (for indeed she was briefly the Senate president after Stanley Rosenberg resigned in disgrace) claimed. You are correct, sir. She filed for $20,000 rather than $15,000.

And behind the money comes the pension. Billy Bulger has been grabbing a kiss in the mail of what is now $272,719 a year since 2003. David Bartley, who last won an election in 1974, has been pocketing $157,666 since 2004.

Nice “work” if you can get it.

The reason I bring this up, other than the Feb. 15 date to pull papers, is that more and more this election year seems to be shaping up as a once-in-a-generation cycle, when a fed-up electorate throws the bums out in larger-than-normal numbers.

I’m starting to pick up that 1990 vibe around here again. That was the year in Massachusetts when dozens of Democrats retired due to ill health — the voters got sick of them.

The GOP elected both the governor and treasurer, and came within a few thousand votes of seizing control of the state Senate from Whitey Bulger’s younger brother.

All kinds of unlikely Republicans were elected in 1990. A 56-year-old factory worker on unemployment ousted the hack Middlesex County register of probate – by 40,000 votes. In Taunton, Sen. Teddy Aleixo was upset by a Republican whose day job was selling Bibles. His name was Erv Wall.

After his stinging 4,000-vote defeat, Sen. Aleixo was philosophical:

“Tell Erv he won’t sell too many Bibles in the state Senate.”

The pay now is at least four times what it was during that tidal wave election of 1990. Candidates, if you win this year, you won’t have to moonlight selling Bibles or anything else.

Hell, you wouldn’t even be able to if you wanted. The State House is closed, and that’s just the way the hacks like it. And you’ll learn to like it too – a lot.