Most of Phoenix’s top-paid city employees are cops

“You don’t go into policing because you want to become incredibly wealthy,” Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego said in a 2024 interview with Arizona’s Family.

But you might get a pretty sweet payout when you leave the force.

According to Phoenix’s employee compensation data, six police department employees were among the top 10 highest-paid employees in 2025, each raking in at least $390,000. According to the department, all six have retired.

The troubled police department’s employees dominate the top 10 every year going back to 2016, which are the oldest records offered by Phoenix’s Open Data website.

Why so much? Included in the city’s data are salaries, overtime, shift differential and leave payouts, among other forms of compensation.

Even beyond the top 10, police officers consistently make up the lion’s share of top earners. Fifteen of the 25 highest-paid city employees worked for Phoenix police last year. Of the 544 big kahuna employees who made more than $200,000, more than 60% were cops. They include senior police leadership but also a mix of lieutenants, sergeants and rank-and-file officers.

The department is known for making huge overtime payouts to officers.

But the highest earner of the year wasn’t a cop. Former City Manager Jeff Barton, the city’s top non-elected official who retired in November, made more than half a million last year.

By comparison, Gallego, whose salary is capped by city code, made about $100,000. Most members of the Phoenix City Council made between $77,000 and $79,000.

Here are the 10 highest-paid city of Phoenix employees in 2025:

1. City Manager Jeff Barton: $501,275.50
Barton, who has historically been one of the highest-paid city employees, retired in November. He was replaced by Ed Zuercher, who made about $41,000 for a month and a half of work.

2. Police Sgt. Jerry Barker Jr.: $448,623.96
Barker retired in September. He appeared in news stories several years ago as a result of investigations into former police detective Jennifer DiPonzio, who mishandled evidence on an epic scale. Barker was her supervisor.

3. Assistant City Manager Inger Erickson: $446,444.27
Erickson was promoted from deputy city manager in February and retired in December.

4. Police Cmdr. Charles Consolian: $431,030.87
Consolian retired in December. In 2019, he was mentioned in a sexual discrimination suit against the city.

5. Police Lt. Jamie Bennett: $429,860.09
Bennett retired in December. She was a supervisor present at a May 2019 incident in which two Phoenix cops aggressively confronted a family whose young daughter had accidentally left a Family Dollar with a toy.

6. Police Lt. Wayne Dillon: $402,272.05
Dillon retired in September.

7. Police Sgt. Robert Pitts Jr.: $397,578.93
Pitts retired in August.

8. Deputy City Manager John Chan: $394,050.19
Chan retired in October after 33 years with the city.

9. Police Lt. Jeremy McClimas: $393,224.39
McClimas retired in November. According to his LinkedIn, he now works as an emergency preparedness coordinator with HonorHealth.

10. Assistant City Manager Lori Bays: $385,442.80
Bays is one of Phoenix’s most powerful officials. She’s worked for Phoenix since 2018, when she became human resources director.