CAN RAHM EMANUEL MANAGE CHICAGO?
Published at Forbes
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Chicago is in trouble and continues to flirt with junk bond status.
But the city's financial woes aren't stopping 10,600 government employees from bringing home six-figure salaries and higher. This includes 1,000 city workers who earned $40,000 or more last year in overtime pay.
Read our Forbes editorial, Can Rahm Emanuel Manage Chicago?
We found plumbers pulling down $160,859; auto pound supervisors making $144,453; truck drivers earning up to $134,365; sewer brick layers making $133,387; and tree trimmers earning $109,456.
Search our interactive map of the 10,600 Chicago public employees making $100,000 and costing taxpayer $1.3 billion. Just click a pin (by ZIP code) and scroll down to see the results rendered in the chart beneath the map.
Here are a few examples of what you'll uncover:
- $283 million in overtime costs - police ($143 million), fire ($71 million), and another $68.5 million from a myriad of city agencies. Incidentally, $143 million is equivalent to the first-year cost of fielding 1,030 new police officers!
- Ginger Evans, Commissioner of Aviation, is the most highly compensated Chicago employee. She made $400,000 and double dipped the system by receiving a $300,000 salary and a $100,000 bonus. Emanuel picked Evans to replace Rosemarie Andolino - who made $187,000 with no bonus.
- More than 700 employees at the Water Management Dept. earned more than $100,000 costing taxpayers $85 million including 'plumbers' ($160,859), 'machinists' ($168,823), 'construction laborers' ($137,488), 'painters' ($133,387) and 'sewer brick layers' ($133,387).
- More than 160 employees at Streets and Sanitation made over $100,000, including 'motor truck drivers' receiving up to $134,365; 'auto pound supervisors' making $144,453; and 'tree trimmers' bringing in $109,456. Sadly, Emanuel doesn't seem have a similar passion for trimming the city's budget.
There's a lot more to the story...
Read our Forbes editorial: Can Rahm Emanuel Manage Chicago?
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