Boston public employees are reportedly having a field day under the rule of Democratic Governor Deval Patrick, as the number of government workers earning $100,000 or more a year has jumped by nearly 40 percent since 2007, the Boston Herald reveals.
Overtime pay is partly to blame for the ballooning salaries, but pay to employees in the University of Massachusetts system has also shot up exponentially, the paper reports.
The Herald outlines what it dubs the "lucky payroll-packing professions":
• State police have 1,600 troopers who earned at least $100,000 last year—with one salaried cruiser taking home $233,583.
• The number of Department of Correction workers pulling in at least $100,000 annually nearly doubled—from 112 in 2010 to 219 last year. The highest paid guard pulled in more than $140,000.
• The number of six-figure earners working in the University of Massachusetts system ballooned to 2,296 in 2011—up 82 from the previous year. The top salary was $761,314 for the chancellor of health sciences.