Nice Work If You Can Get It

It seems like everyone wants to be mayor of Boston. Michael Flaherty wants in. So does John Tobin and Ralph Martin. Rumors are swirling about Maureen Feeney starting a bid as well.

Why anyone would want to be mayor is beyond us. Sure, you get the stature and renown, but you also have to deal with petulant unions and cranky bookish fellows. We figured the pay is what keeps Mayor Tom Menino going when times get rough.

But, we were wrong.

The Globe reports that 108 city workers make more than Menino’s salary of $175,000.02. If Menino wants to break into the upper echelons of pay, he’d better turn in the keys of the city for a police badge.

The city’s highest paid employee last year was police Captain William B. Evans, a district commander who oversees the Back Bay and the South End. He earned $227,763 in 2007, which includes roughly $57,000 in overtime pay and $21,700 for private detail shifts.

The BPD says Captain Evans’ area includes the Fenway Park area, which required planning a huge police presence during baseball’s playoffs. But we’re not sure if that’s worth more than being mayor of the entire city.

The experts are worried too.

“This trend has to be of concern,” said [Boston Municipal Research Bureau president Samuel] Tyler, whose research last year showed city employee earnings had climbed by 15 percent over three years. “Our concern is that this cost is just unsustainable. This is sort of the opposite direction of what we’re seeing in the private sector.”

Forget running for mayor—we’re going to look into becoming cops. Guess we’d better start juicing.