Eight Newton police officers earned more than $300,000 in total compensation last year. Twelve of the city's 13 highest-paid employees in 2025 were police department members, according to a national analysis published Thursday, Aug. 27.
The Washington Free Beacon report, written by Ira Stoll, compared police compensation in Newton, Boston, San Francisco and Los Angeles to professor salaries. Newton stood out: only one non-police employee cracked the city's top 13 earners. Patch first flagged the Newton data for local readers.
The figures land as Newton taxpayers absorb a $1.175 million transfer the City Council approved in June to fund contractual wage increases under a four-year Newton Police Association (NPA) agreement. A separate $710,000 transfer covered retroactive adjustments for police officers and other bargaining units including DPW engineers, parking control officers and crossing guards.
What's driving the numbers
The city went without a collective bargaining agreement with the NPA from 2022 to 2024. The stalemate led to binding arbitration at the state level before a deal covering fiscal years 2024 through 2027 was reached.
Cost-of-living raises under the contract were 3% in fiscal year 2025 and 3% in FY26, compounding to about 6.09%. By FY27 the compounded total reaches approximately 9.18%, representing three years' worth of wages, CFO Maureen Lemieux told the Public Safety and Transportation Committee on June 17.
"it has been 5 years since we were able to settle and agree with the Newton Police Association (NPA) representing 110 sworn positions," Lemieux said at that June 17 meeting.
The committee approved both wage transfers 6-0 that night, with Councilor Wright not voting. The Finance Committee followed with a 7-0 vote on June 22.
A $30 million department
Newton's proposed FY27 police budget totals $30,022,078, roughly 16% of the city's municipal budget. Salaries and benefits consume about 93% of that figure.
Police Chief Timothy Cohoon told the committee at a May 7 budget hearing that increases over FY26 stem from contractual step increases, the implementation of Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) stipends across all ranks, and rising health insurance costs. He described them as fixed, non-discretionary obligations.
The department is authorized for 149 sworn officers but had about 11 vacancies as of May 2026. Cohoon described the hiring pipeline as an 18-month process from requisition to street-ready officer. The staffing gap forces the department to rely on overtime callbacks to maintain minimum patrol levels.
Compensation vs. base salary
The Free Beacon's analysis uses the term "annual compensation," though available records do not specify whether the $300,000-plus figures include overtime, detail pay, benefits or base salary alone. Newton's public payroll data typically encompasses all forms of compensation.
That distinction matters. Forced overtime driven by vacancies and contractual obligations like POST stipends can push total compensation well above base pay.
No Newton city official has publicly addressed the Free Beacon's ranking. Cohoon's and Lemieux's remarks about the contract and budget were made before the national report was published.
