It’s only January 7, but Baltimore’s elected officials have already gotten a pay raise for the year.

Effective last Wednesday, Mayor Bernard C. “Jack” Young’s salary jumped from $185,000 to just under $190,000.

Comptroller Joan Pratt and City Council President Brandon M. Scott will each see a $3,000 pay increase in 2020, from $122,387 to $125,447.

Council Vice President Sharon Green Middleton’s salary has risen from $78,679 to $80,646, while the pay for other Council members climbed from slightly above $71,000 to $73,000.

Under city and state law, Baltimore’s elected officials are entitled to an automatic 2.5% pay raise so long as at least one unionized employee group gets a pay raise for the year.

In the most recent city budget, AFSCME employees received a 3% cost of living adjustment.

While the new salaries for electeds have already gone into effect, they will be officially noted at tomorrow’s Board of Estimates meeting.

The $200,000 Club

The mayor’s salary is far from the highest in city government.

Michael S. Harrison, hired last February as Baltimore’s police commissioner, occupies that position, getting $275,000 a year under a five-year contract.

In addition to Harrison, 23 city employees earned more than $200,000 last year, according to online salary records reviewed by The Brew.

Seventeen members of the “$200,000 Club” were sworn police officers, who each received $100,000 or more in overtime over the course of the year.

• SPECIAL REPORT: Police again fill the ranks of best paid Baltimore city employees (10/4/19)

The parade of overtime recipients was led by Sgt. Ethan R. Newburg, who is currently under indictment for assault, false imprisonment and misconduct in office based on a review of body camera footage by city prosecutors.

He was paid $260,775 in FY19, of which $152,968, or nearly 60%, came from overtime.

Top-paid salaried jobs (without overtime) in the city were held by State’s Attorney Marilyn J. Mosby ($238,772), Finance Director Henry Raymond ($216,595), Fire Chief Niles R. Ford ($210,000), and Housing Commissioner Michael Braverman ($202,000).

Among Young’s staff, Anthony R. Smith collected the fattest paycheck last year – $243,747 as deputy director of the Mayor’s Office of Emergency Management (MOEM), mostly through overtime.