ALBANY – Gov. Cuomo is canceling the huge and highly controversial pay raises secretly given 28 top State Police officials last month amid the state’s worsening fiscal crisis, The Post has learned.
Top State Police officials were to be notified of the decision later this afternoon, sources said.
“The decision has been made to roll back the pay increases and the mechanics of the process as being worked out now,’’ said a source close to the Cuomo administration.
The roll back will include the $20,394 annual increase given Acting State Police Superintendent John Melville, who arranged for then-Gov. Paterson to approve the salary grab late last month, even as he prepared to fire some 900 state workers including security personnel.
Melville’s salary jumped to $179,756 under the arrangement, more than the $179,000 paid the governor.
Cuomo said he was “surprised and shocked’’ when he learned about the pay hikes from The Post earlier in the week and pledged to review the decision.
Cuomo’s is trying to close a $10 billion projected state deficit
Pay hikes of as much as 28 percent were granted State Police brass after Melville claimed that newly negotiated raises granted unionized police majors meant that they were being paid as much as the higher level administrators to who they reported.
But that practice isn’t uncommon in state government, where top commissioners and other high level appointees make more money than their subordinates.
“The governor’s office recognizes that there is a problem at the State Police with disparities in salary and that’s a problem that will continue to be examined but given the timing of those raises it is necessary to return things to the status quo ante,’’ said the administration source.