Winifred Cotter, a Boston police sergeant who served as an official driver for her cousin, former Mayor Marty Walsh, is the top pension earner amongst city retirees, raking in nearly $16,500 a month, according to the city’s payroll records.

Cotter, who retired in February 2022, receives $16,424.84 monthly in pension — a figure that equates to $197,098.08 a year — to top the roughly 12,950 retirees taking in post-career money from the city.

Records show that nearly 200 are earning over $10,000 a month, or over $120,000 annually.

“Boston has a spending problem,” said Paul Diego Craney, spokesman for watchdog Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance. “It’s driven by the politicians who promise away the future for today’s votes. The bloated pensions are the latest example of the mismanagement from Boston City Hall.”

Walsh appointing Cotter as his driver in 2014 sparked controversy across the city, with critics and watchdogs blasting the former mayor for nepotism. Cotter was then promoted in 2017 to a top command post in the Boston Police Department.

“It’s not nepotism. … She should not be penalized because her cousin is the mayor of Boston,” Walsh told the Herald at the time of Cotter’s promotion, citing her 31 years of experience.

A Herald analysis in 2021 showed a raft of commissioners, captains, deputies, and others accounting for the 470 city retirees pulling down $100,000-plus in annual retirement pay.

William Gross topped that list at $193,570 a year, but the former police commissioner has dropped to the third highest even though his monthly check has increased to $16,268.35, for $195,220 per year, current records show.

Andre Stallworth, a former chief of the fire department’s support services, slid into the second spot when he retired in January 2023. He joined the department in 1991 and rose to his role in 2019.

The fourth retiree in the $16,000-a-month pension club is James Hasson, a 33-year police veteran who last served as superintendent of the Bureau of Professional Standards, which includes the Internal Affairs and Anti-Corruption divisions, and Auditing and Review Unit.

Stallworth and Hasson earn $16,344.77 and $16,009.05 a month, respectively.

To receive pension payments, employees can retire at age 55 or older, but they need at least 10 years of service on the job. If an employee has more than 20 years of service, they can retire at any time, according to the city.

The maximum payable is 80% of an employee’s final average salary.

About 194 retirees are making $10,000 a month, with 102 earning no more than $11,000.

“If Boston ever wants to lower the cost of living and doing business for its taxpayers, it must show fiscal restraint in how they spend taxpayer money,” Craney told the Herald. “That may be a novel concept for the City Council and Mayor, but in many economically competitive cities across the country, it’s what is driving growth, affordable development, and population growth.”