The Bangor Daily News was the first to report this story. What you’re reading here would likely not be made public without the efforts of professional journalists asking questions, interviewing sources and obtaining documents.
Nearly a quarter of all the money Bangor spent on employee salaries and wages last year went to the police department.
Bangor Police Department employees made more money than any other department in 2025, raking in $8.4 million of the $37.4 million spent. They also made up half of the top 20 highest-paid city workers last year.
Firefighters are the second-most represented among the city’s highest earners.
Bangor’s spending on employees has steadily grown over the last few years, jumping up 6.8% last year from 2024, but reliance on overtime pay for city workers is going down, according to an analysis of salary data obtained by the Bangor Daily News through a Freedom of Access Act request. The public records, which some cities publish regularly, show how taxpayer money is being spent.
The city’s payroll is likely to keep growing after the City Council approved a $7 million budget hike this year, about half of which was driven by personnel costs including new positions and cost of living raises. That comes as affordability — including rising property taxes — continues to be a hot-button issue for Mainers.
Mark Hathaway, the city’s police chief, was the second highest-paid employee and made more than $135,000 in regular and overtime pay.
The only employee who made more was former Finance Director David Little, who resigned in May 2025 after City Councilor Joe Leonard accused Little during a public meeting of lying and misallocating resources. An investigation later found no evidence of wrongdoing, and the city paid Little nearly $81,000 as part of his separation agreement. In total, he made almost $138,000 that year.
The other highest-earning department heads last year were Parks and Recreation Director Tracy Willette at about $124,000, City Solicitor David Szewczyk at about $121,000 and Airport Director Jose Saavedra at nearly $120,000.
The list of regular and overtime earnings reviewed by the BDN added up to about $37.4 million. That’s up from about $35 million in 2024 and $32 million in 2023.
“In authorizing any increase to staff pay, the City recognizes that our employees provide valuable services to our citizens and competitive pay is crucial for reduced turnover and increased retention in order to ensure service needs are met,” city spokesperson David Warren, whose salary totaled about $72,000 last year, said.
City Manager Carollynn Lear, who earned nearly $88,000 in five and a half months on the job last year, has said that some of the hikes in this year’s municipal budget were needed for city services that haven’t gotten enough funding in the past. This year’s budget totaled about $145 million, up from $137.7 million the previous year.
The councilors got behind the budget because they “recognized that over the course of the most recent history, investment in the provision of services had been somewhat neglected,” Lear previously told the BDN.
That budget included funding for wage adjustments in line with the collective bargaining agreements that represent more than half of city employees, as well as 3% cost of living raises for non-unionized staff, according to Lear’s initial budget draft.
Some staff may also get merit increases up to 5% per year, Warren said.
Not all city positions are funded by local tax dollars, Warren noted. Airport and wastewater treatment plant staff are paid with the revenue generated by their departments, and some other employee positions, such as bus drivers and public health workers, can be fully or partially grant-funded.
City councilors and staff emphasized a need to make city positions more competitive during this year’s budget season.
For example, after reviewing a proposed budget for the city’s public works department, Councilor Susan Faloon reported that the department was short 11 staff members, “largely because salaries are not competitive.” She noted that a bigger budget would help raise pay and, by extension, fill vacant positions and ensure residents get the services they expect.
Despite rising spending on staff pay, the data obtained by the BDN reveals that Bangor’s city workers actually made less in overtime last year compared with 2024. Overtime pay totaled about $4.01 million last year, down from $4.04 million.
More than 130 city employees made at least $10,000 in overtime last year. More than half of those people worked in the police and fire departments, and the highest overtime earner was Fire Lieutenant Benjamin Morey, who made almost $60,000 in overtime.
Overtime made up nearly 17% of fire department pay last year, higher than any other department.
Fire department staffing has long been an issue in Bangor. Firefighters pleaded with the City Council for pandemic relief funding in 2023, saying they’d use it to give out bonuses that would help recruit and retain first responders they desperately needed, but the council ultimately denied their request.
A request for funding for eight new firefighter positions, which the council approved last month, alluded to longstanding concerns about burnout in the department.
“Emergency medical service demand in Bangor has reached a level that places sustained
operational pressure on the current ambulance system,” former fire chief Geoffrey Low wrote in a memo to Lear in March.
The high workload on firefighters leads to fatigue and adds more risk of medical errors, vehicle crashes and injuries, Low said at the time. He abruptly resigned in June, in the middle of a three-year contract.
The fire department is not the highest-earning by total pay, despite its overtime usage. That spot belongs to the police department, whose earnings made up more than 22% of all city employee pay last year. More than 14% of police pay was overtime.