Taxpayers bearing cost of state’s fattened payroll

Make sure you look at the Herald’s new 2018 state payroll report on an empty stomach. You’re bound to feel queasy once you take it all in.

As the Herald’s Joe Battenfeld reported, UMass President Martin Meehan and other UMass administrators are living a very good life, thanks to the hard work of the humble taxpayer. Meehan received a $87,312 bonus on top of his $571,856 annual salary in 2018, bringing his total haul to more than $659,000.

James Glasheen, executive vice chancellor for innovation and business development, whose annual salary is already $477,327, got nearly $194,000 in added payments. Not to be outdone, UMass Amherst Chancellor Kumble Subbaswamy got more than $104,000 in bonuses, bringing his annual take to $579,302 in 2018.

The median household income in Massachusetts is about $77.5K. Imagine a bonus of more than $100K? A bonus? UMass Dartmouth Chancellor Robert Johnson can. He received $112,500 in extra payment, hauling in a grand total of $466,731, according to payroll records.

Don’t for a moment assume that it’s just the University of Massachusetts payroll that’s saturated by a cash tsunami. The Herald’s “Your Tax Dollars at Work” report leaves no stone unturned.

Unless you were riding on it or paying for it, 2018 was a great year for the MBTA, which shelled out $10 million more in overtime cash — a 14-percent increase — than it did in 2017, according to state data. The T served up $82 million in overtime in 2018.

Bus drivers, though not always great at being on time, nonetheless excelled at earning overtime, pulling in $13.4 million. The lowest rank of T cops raked in $7.2 million in OT, and rail repairers snagged $5.25 million, according to the state data. Employees in the carmen’s union, which includes bus drivers and repairmen, made $32.8 million in OT last year.

The Massachusetts State Police — an agency where shady payroll activity has led to several indictments — has also made the list of standouts on the Herald’s new 2018 state payroll report. The state police payroll jumped by almost $12 million last year, with some troopers doubling their pay with overtime shifts. The overall state police budget climbed to $355.26 million in 2018, up by $62 million over the year before.

Scores of state police officers still took home $200,000-plus in gross pay last year — with many logging massive extra shifts.

The total payroll for the commonwealth of Massachusetts was $7.74 billion last year — an enormous number. “It’s unsustainable,” said Greg Sullivan, the former state inspector general now at the Pioneer Institute. “We have very large unfunded liabilities. … The Legislature would be well advised to try to constrain the growth of the state budget and focus on paying what we owe,” Sullivan added.

There is no excuse for billions of taxpayers’ dollars to be shoveled into the hands of those lucky enough to land a state job. It reeks of malfeasance and greed, and though technically legal, it is still an immoral racket. State employment means membership in a not-so-secret society where perks, benefits and salaries dwarf those within the private sector often under the guise of “public service.”

There can be no crying poor mouth about state budgets when the architects and beneficiaries live the good life. We must hold elected leaders and state employees accountable. It starts with information and that starts at the Herald’s “Your Tax Dollars at Work: New 2018 state payroll report” database.