Results tagged “salary”

You may get to Carnegie Hall through practice, but you get to walk away from Carnegie Hall with a half million a year by being a stagehand at the legendary venue. Bloomberg News blows the lid off the shocking salaries that Carnegie doles out annually, saying that while "a star pianist can receive $20,000 a night... he or she would have to perform at least 27 times to match the income of Dennis O’Connell, who oversees props at the hall."

Amanda Ernst is dancing for pennies as the new editor of Mediabistro's Fishbowl NY. This morning she appeared on the Today Show with her financial guru, telling the tale of how she went from making $50K/year at Condé Nast to just $1,666/month (about $20K/year) at the house of Laurel Touby. Livin' the dream. Some tips: cut out your gym membership, New York Times subscription, and social life whilst earning extra bucks babysitting.

The City Council will give 550 council aides and central staffers approximately $3.9 million in raises for this year’s salaries and, retroactively, for last year’s salaries. The decision, which was not bogged down by any annoying "voting," was framed by Council speaker Christine Quinn's spokesperson as a "cost of living increase." Charles Meara, the Council's chief of staff and top paid employee, will see his salary go up to $209,973 from $194,132, a gain of $15,841. And his deputy chief of staff, Ramon Martinez III, got a nice bump too, from $191,664 to $207,303. (The Wonkster has a nice top 10 list of the Council's highest paid staffers.) The salary increases, which do not apply to council members, come on the heels of Mayor Bloomberg's $45 million in raises for his staff. And the city's district attorneys and borough presidents have given or are expected to give similar raises. Bucking the trend, City Comptroller William C. Thompson Jr., a cash-starved Democratic candidate for mayor, has frozen the salaries of all his employees who make over $90,000 a year. But how will they afford the cost of living?!

It's hardly a secret that organized religion can be a very lucrative business model, but the sky high compensation package offered to the new senior minister of Riverside Church—which has a long history of advocating social justice—has some congregants raising hell. The Daily News's Juan Gonzalez reports that a group of dissident church members filed suit in Manhattan Supreme Court last week to stop Saturday's installation of Rev. Brad Braxton, who's been hired with a $600,000 annual compensation package.

Let's hope Governor Paterson isn't as whimsical with our state budget as he is with his own. Less than twenty-four hours after being presented with the idea to take a pay cut while at a town hall meeting in Niagara Falls, the governor announced that he will in fact give up ten percent of his salary. While in Buffalo today, he said, “I will symbolically make the gesture for the state. I will take that sacrifice.” But while the governor might be desperate to get in the good graces of state voters, don't expect to him to do it at the expense of his staff members, who recently drew attention to him for the raises he gave them amidst the budget crisis. As for them, Paterson said, “I don’t want anyone else to do anything but do their jobs and make sure that we get rid of this budget deficit."

The salaries of all city employees are available for the public to peruse at See Through NY, a project from the Manhattan Institute's Empire Center for New York State Policy. AMNY's Urbanite reports, "The mayor’s office is boasting some of the highest salaries of any city agency, with nearly one in five of its staffers pulling in at least $100,000 a year." The average salary in the Mayor's office is $71,626; the response from the Mayor's office: "The mayor’s office, unlike other city agencies, is mostly managers who are responsible for overseeing all facets of city government"—and, therefore, deserves those salaries. Schools Chancellor Joel Klein makes the most, with a take of $250,000 annually, and Urbanite notes that the salaries do not include overtime.

After longtime Assemblyman Anthony Seminerio's arrest on bribery charges, the State Assembly apparently held a secret meeting to discuss, per the AP, "tougher rules over disclosure of outside income by lawmakers."

The Gristede’s supermarket chain could be forced to pay $25 million to more than 400 current and former managers who've successfully sued the company for refusing to pay overtime. Last week a federal judge sided with the employees, dismissing Gristede's argument that they were "salaried executives who, under federal and state law, are generally exempt from receiving time-and-a-half pay for overtime," the Times reports. In his decision, Judge Paul Crotty wrote that “Gristede’s clearly sought to treat workers as ‘hourly’ for some purposes, (i.e., docking them for hours not worked during the workweek), but ‘salaried’ for other purposes (i.e., not paying them overtime for hours worked in excess of the workweek).” Naturally, Gristede's plans to appeal, since billionaire owner John Catsimaditis (pictured) is going to need every cent to run for mayor.

Hey, did you get your year end bonus yet? The bros at Goldman Sachs sure did, to the tune of $600K per employee, on average. Yep, $600,000 dollars, a number that stands out in a year when most Wall Street bonuses, though still obscene, are either diminished or staying even with previous years. In fact, 600K is double the average bonus paid at other firms, according to Reuters.

Mayor Bloomberg's generosity has been noted from educational institutions (like his alma mater Johns Hopkins) and even city organizations (like the World Trade Center Memorial Foundation). He gave staffers on his re-election campaign payouts as big as $300,000-400,000. And when Deputy Mayor Dan Doctoroff announced he would leave City Hall to become president of the mayor's business, Bloomberg LP, it suggested that the Mayor rewarded staffers he trusts. Well, the NY Times now looks at how some Bloomberg aides' salaries have grown since taking the government jobs in City Hall.

Deputy Mayor Dan Doctoroff, who was in charge of Economic Development and Rebuilding in the Bloomberg administration, announced he would resign by the end of the year. The Post called the news "stunning," but we'd like to call it "classic," because his new job will be president of a little company called Bloomberg LP. At a City Hall press conference, Mayor Bloomberg said, "As a result of Dan's efforts, we've allowed for the creation of...

The City Council's Committee on Government Operations met this week to talk about possible changes to how much money council members make. Questions were raised about how raises were determined, leadership bonuses, and whether outside work should remain permitted. After a 25% increase in base pay in 2006, council members earn $112,500 annually. They can earn an additional $10,000 a year on average if a member holds a leadership position. In addition, members can hold...

"Broadway Joe" Namath (who's now hitting AARP-age) will be larger than life when his life story hits sacks the big screen. Starring as the Hall of Fame quarterback (and ladies man) will be none other than Jake Gyllenhaal, who will likely only have to do a touch of bulking up for the role.While other quarterbacks racked up bigger lifetime stats, Namath became the first football player to achieve rock-star status. The pic will tell the...

Unnamed sources are telling the Daily News and The Post that a deal between the stagehands’ union and Broadway producers is within reach. The two sides have an agreement on the main sticking point, the dispute over the number of stagehands required for a show’s “load-in” and are currently negotiating salaries. As one source put it, "Everybody is confident we can finally get this done." There’s even optimism that some shows affected by the strike...

The Bureau of Labor Statistics has released data showing Manhattan as the country's highest paid place. Thanks to financial executives' salaries, the average weekly salary for a Manhattanite is $2,821. The next highest weekly salary in the country is Fairfield, Connecticut - $1,979. The figure reflect the heady first quarter of 2007. The rest of New York City residents make more modest amounts. Queens residents make an average of $831/week, followed by $788 made in...

The NY State Department of Taxation and Finance is pretty sneaky. After years of observing the Yankee captain's comments, lawyers are saying that DJ owes hundreds of thousands in back taxes. Though Jeter's Yankees salary is partially taxed by NY State, he has claimed that his primary residence is in Florida, which has no state tax. The argument from tax officials is that Jeter has made statements "professing his love for New York" and that...

"O Stephon, Stephon, wherefore art thou Stephon?" Those are the words that Isiah Thomas might be saying. At least if what one media outlet is reporting is true. Not because the Knicks seem like they their star point guard after last night, or because Stephon Marbury is AWOL, but because the Knicks star point guard may have the dish on his head coach. While on the flight to Phoenix, Marbury learned that he wasn't going...

The Chronicle of Higher Education released its annual salary survey of the heads of educational institutions and the value of a college education is evidenced in the paychecks being cashed by institutions' presidents. More than a dozen heads of private universities took home more than $1 million during the 2005-06 school year. According to the New York Post, the dean of higher earning was Donald Ross, who took home $5.7 million--most in deferred compensation after...

More than a year and a half after the death of Nixzmary Brown, the Administration for Children's Services has hired 20 retired NYPD detectives to work as trained investigators consulting with ACS caseworkers. The ACS plans on eventually fielding 120 such investigators.

Presidential hopefuls can scurry around the country, choking down rubber chicken dinners and hustling for campaign cash, but Mayor Bloomberg knows that it's best to just sit back and let one's money work for you. He's certainly busy working for his $1-a-year salary, and even pays for his own travel when on jaunts to places like London where he's addressing another world capital. Still, our Mayor managed to more than double his wealth from last year. Forbes magazine says that Bloomberg's net worth rose from $5.5 billion to $11.5 billion, launching him from the seedy straits of single-digit billionaires into the elevated realm of the country's top-25 richest Americans.

In the wake of U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales's resignation last month, President Bush will nominate former U.S. District Court Judge Michael Mukasey for the position. Mukasey, who was born in the Bronx and educated at Columbia and Yale Law School, was "appointed to the federal bench" by Ronald Reagan and has presided over terrorism trials, such as the trial of Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman.

About 14% of new police recruits have dropped out of the latest Police Academy class of over 1,000 recruits, and some are worried that the city's crimefighting programs will be hurt. Notably, "Operation Impact," which Police Commissioner Ray Kelly credit withs helping decrease crime by 25-30% by concentrating cops in those "impact areas" may be without more police officers. Kelly blames the attrition partly on the low starting salary of $25,100.

Yesterday, the U.S. Census released data showing that the number of New Yorkers living in poverty increased, though the national number dropped. With more than 1.54 million New Yorkers in poverty, that makes it a 2% increase from last year, a change the city attributes to how the data was collected. Still, Mayor Bloomberg said, "Whether the numbers are overstated or understated, there is no question that they are much too high and you have to keep working on finding ways to reduce the poverty level."

Mayor Bloomberg may have made $1 as Mayor of New York City last year, but know this about our billionaire mayor: His earnings from his media company and other investments amounted to more than $500,000, thanks to the super-redacted tax returns he made public.

The same day that Don Imus settled his breach of contract lawsuit with CBS, he was slapped with a lawsuit by a member of the Rutgers women's basketball team. Initial reports yesterday put Don Imus' settlement figures with CBS as high as $20 million, but reports today say that figure is actually much lower. In addition to the settlement, The Post says the two sides agreed to a "non-disparaging" clause, forbidding the sides from criticizing the other. The Daily News talked to industry insiders who believe Imus' settlement was in the $10 million range.

You'd imagine that Kevin Burke, the chairman, president, and CEO of Con Ed, would want to attend at City Council meeting about the steam pipe explosion on July 18. But, no, Burke isn't showing up, which annoys many Council members. The Sun has a good look at the head of the city's essential and currently reviled utility.

We were skimming 1010WINS when we saw this headline Spitzer Energy Adviser Resigns Amid Threat Investigation. What? An energy adviser was involved in the plot to discredit State Senator Joseph Bruno? But actually it's something nuttier:

Energy adviser Steven Mitnick confirms that he has resigned from his position in the Spitzer administration.

Continue reading "All the Governor's Men"

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a motorcycle jacking at 230th Place and 148th Ave. in Queens, shots fired at police at Gates and Nostrand Aves. in Brooklyn, and multiple pedestrians struck at Coney Island and Ditmas Aves. in Brooklyn.
• State and city politicians broke ground in the Bronx yesterday on a new Metro-North station stop at the under-construction Yankee Stadium. It's hoped that the transit option will cut down on auto traffic from upstate fans driving to games.
• The FDNY's officers (e.g., lieutenants, supervisors) will get a 4% pay increase retroactive to March 20th, and annual increases of 4% each year for the next three years. It nets out to a 17% salary increase.
• A tip led police to the arrest of two women in the brutal 2003 killing of a 91-year-old woman in a robbery that gained them a gold chain snatched from the woman's neck and a stack of bath towels.
• Long Island animal-cruelty authorities are offering a $20,000 reward in an effort to find out who tied a two-year-old dog to a tree, doused it with gasoline, then lit it on fire and left it to die.
• The Nautica New York City Triathlon is tomorrow and there will be significant traffic disruptions on the West Side and Henry Hudson Highways and 72nd St. NY1 has the details.
• It's Saturday, so Canada's Globe and Mail takes a look at which city has the better 24-hour, never-sleeps nightlife, London or New York.
• If Jay-Z's mom bought him a computer with Microsoft Excel when he was little, instead of a boombox.
• There's still some time to get to Coney Island to catch the headliners of today's Siren Festival. Here's the schedule.
• Helmet-cam video of a NYC bike messenger on the talk show "Ellen".

One firefighters' group is taking their attacks on Rudy Giuliani's record to the videotape. The International Association of Fire Fighters, which worked with the Uniformed Firefighters Association (already a vocal critic of Giuliani) and Uniformed Fire Officers Association, produced a video called Rudy Giuliani: Urban Legend.