Boston Police Department alumni make up two of the city’s top three pension recipients. Sergeant Winifred Cotter, left, in 2014, and Police Commissioner William Gross, right, in 2021. (File photo composite/Boston Herald)
Winifred Cotter, a Boston police sergeant who served as a chauffeur for her cousin, former Mayor Marty Walsh, has the highest pension among city retirees, making about $16,500 a month, according to city payroll records.
Cotter, who retires in February 2022, receives $16,424.84 a month in pension benefits (equivalent to $197,098.08 a year), more than the roughly 12,950 retirees who receive retirement benefits from the city.
Records show that about 200 people are earning more than $10,000 a month and more than $120,000 a year.
“Boston has a spending problem,” said Paul Diego Craney, a spokesman for the Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance, a watchdog group. “It’s driven by politicians who are squandering the future for votes today. Pension inflation is the latest example of mismanagement at Boston City Hall.”
Mayor Walsh’s appointment of Cotter as his chauffeur in 2014 sparked controversy in the city, with critics and watchdog groups accusing the former mayor of nepotism. Cotter was subsequently promoted to top commander of the Boston Police Department in 2017.
“This is not nepotism. … She should not be penalized just because her cousin is the mayor of Boston,” Walsh told the Herald at the time of Cotter’s promotion, citing his own 31 years of experience.
A 2021 Herald analysis found that of the city’s 470 retirees, including commissioners, captains and deputy captains, many received retirement benefits of more than $100,000 a year.
William Gross topped the list with an annual salary of $193,570, but current records show the former police chief’s monthly salary has increased to $16,268.35, but he has dropped to third place with an annual salary of $195,220.
Andre Stallworth, former chief of the Fire Department’s support services, slipped into second place when he retires in January 2023. He joined the department in 1991 and took up his current role in 2019.
The fourth retiree from the $16,000-a-month pension club is James Hasson, who worked for the police for 33 years and last served as director of the Professional Standards Bureau, which includes the Internal Investigations Unit, the Anti-Corruption Unit and the Audit and Review Unit.
Mr. Stallworth and Mr. Hasson make $16,344.77 and $16,009.05 per month, respectively.
To receive a pension, employees can retire at age 55 or older but must have at least 10 years of work experience. If an employee has worked for 20 years or more, they can retire at any time, according to the city.
The maximum amount that can be paid is 80% of the employee’s final average salary.
About 194 of the retirees make $10,000 a month, and 102 make less than $11,000 a month.
Boston City Employee Pensions: Tax-Funded
“If Boston wants to lower the cost of living and doing business for taxpayers, it must demonstrate fiscal discipline in how it spends taxpayer money,” Craney told the Herald. “This may be a new concept for the City Council and mayor, but in many economically competitive cities across the country, it’s what drives growth, affordable development and population growth.”
