Methuen's police chief is one of the highest paid in the country -- and he says he deserves more

[demmiblue]

METHUEN — This community on the New Hampshire border may be smaller than 772 other American cities, but the salary of police Chief Joseph Solomon is anything but small. His salary of $326,707 in 2019 made Solomon one of the highest-paid police chiefs in the nation, paid more than his counterparts in Boston, New York, Chicago, and many other major urban areas.

And, unlike them, Solomon doesn’t have to face a serious crime problem: Methuen had one murder last year.

Still, Solomon believes he is underpaid.

He is refusing to take 10 unpaid furlough days to help the cash-strapped city work down a $7 million shortfall. He is the only department head to refuse the request from the city’s mayor, Neil Perry, who recently cut his own pay from $80,000 to $68,000 a year.

“Its a slap in the face of a city that is currently dealing with a 13 percent unemployment rate,” said D.J. Beauregard, a Methuen city councilor. “It’s absurdly disproportionate for the chief of a department of about 100 employees to be making one of the highest salaries in the nation.”

A defiant Solomon has said that, until he settles a pay dispute with the city, he won’t give up any of his income. Under Solomon’s unusual and complex five-year contract — which gives him a myriad of perks and a guarantee he is paid at least 2.6 times more than any patrol officer — the chief believes Methuen has underpaid him by at least $50,000 a year since 2018.

“I’m not in a position to be able to . . . forgo anything at this point,” Solomon told the host of a local Facebook live show in early July.

In a time when COVID-19 is crippling city finances and the killing of George Floyd in Minnesota has heightened scrutiny of spending on police, Solomon is holding out for higher pay even as he hands out layoff slips to his officers.

The city budget called for the layoff of eight police officers, though the mayor used reserve funds to rescind the layoffs of four of them. The other four, with a combined salary of about $274,000, include the city’s only Black patrolman. The patrolmen’s union is trying to save their jobs.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/08/01/metro/methuens-police-chief-is-one-highest-paid-law-enforcement-officers-country-he-wont-take-unpaid-days-off-help-tiny-city/

[Pompoy]

1. Obviously the city's fault for giving him that contract. N/T

[safeinOhio]

2. The best way to vote out a city cop

is to vote out the mayor. That is the person responsible for the chief.