Like clockwork, the City of Boston released its annual payroll just before shutting off the lights for the month.

And it’s a doozy!

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Your Tax Dollars at Work: Boston’s 2025 payroll

More than 30 police officers (33 to be exact) clocked $400,000 or more last year with a combination of detail and overtime pay, with a few other categories peppered in. The top earner for 2025 was BPD Capt. Timothy Connolly — with gross pay of $498,145 off a base pay of $194,382.

Overall, the payroll for the city comes in at $2.45 billion, up slightly by 1.48% year-over-year, according to a Herald payroll analysis.

The city’s salary database, posted annually on the last workday of February around 5 p.m., listed 293 employees who earned $300,000-plus; another 1,592 paid a total of $200,000 and up; and 9,516 who earned $100,000 or more last year.

It’s a massive payroll with more than 25,000 entries, down to the $11.67 “substitute teacher.”

It also comes as the school budget is coming in at $1.7 billion with 300-400 staff layoffs as enrollment declines.

“Taxpayers in Boston should be outraged,” said MassFiscal’s Paul Craney. “When property taxes increase by 10% or more, look at this story. The mayor is allowing it to happen.”

Overtime, especially in the police department, is a six-figure hit on the payroll budget with six employees pulling down $200,000-plus in added hours. The total OT expenditure, a Herald analysis shows, came in at $183 million last year, and that’s rounding out that category.

The city had three fire department employees paid $200,000 or more last year in injury pay.

Schools Superintendent Mary Skipper was paid $377,789 with the highest teacher coming in at $219,973, including OT.

Mayor Michelle Wu was paid $207,000, with no overtime.

The Herald did ask City Hall for a comment after the payroll report was dropped at the end of the day. But, the schools have already pointed to four major inflationary budget challenges, including escalating health insurance costs, transportation expenses, special education costs, and collective bargaining agreement increases.

BPS also noted the anticipated enrollment decline of about 3,000 students from school year 2024-25.

Due to the constraints and declining enrollment, the district stated plans to reduce about 530 positions. While some positions are vacant and others will see staff move to other BPS jobs, Chief Financial Officer David Bloom said, between 300 and 400 current staff are expected to be cut.

The full searchable database (send all tips to joed@bostonherald.com) …