ALBANY — Twenty-eight top officials of the scandal-scarred State Police were secretly given pay hikes as high as 18 percent last month, even as then-Gov. David Paterson warned of a $9 billion budget gap and prepared to fire 900 workers, The Post has learned.
The stunning raises cost taxpayers nearly $600,000 and were authorized by acting State Police Superintendent John Melville, who received a $20,394-a-year hike, to $179,756.
Gov. Cuomo’s nominee as State Police superintendent, former NYPD Deputy Chief Joseph D’Amico, filled that post on Jan. 4, pending Senate confirmation.
A Cuomo spokesman said D’Amico’s salary should have been set at the far lower rate required by law for the superintendent, $136,000 annually, and would be adjusted immediately.
State Police officials justified the hikes by claiming a newly negotiated contract increased salaries of majors to an amount equal to or higher than the pay received by their supervisors.
Assistant Deputy Superintendent Terence O’Mara contended in a letter to Paterson’s office that the inequity would make it difficult to promote majors “without undue hardship to those personnel who have shown they possess the best qualities of leadership.”