No surprises here. According to city records, the top earner on the city’s payroll in 2011 once again was William Waters at $169,758.

Waters just retired as the general manager of the Peabody Municipal Light Plant at the end of December and was closely trailed by current PMLP Manager Glenn Trueira at $150,321. In third, was PMLP engineer Russell Dunn at $143,016.

Next and leading off the Police Department in gross pay, which happens every so often, was Chief Robert Champagne, who earned $141,019, followed by Lt. Scott Wlasuk.

Filling out the rest of the 10 highest paid city employees last year were PMLP engineer Philip Rohn, Police Sgt. Eric Ricci, Deputy Police Chief Martin Cohan, Police Captain Dennis Bonaiuto and Police Lt. William Cook.

Check out the chart below for top 20 earners and their corresponding incomes.

A close look at 2011 earnings shows that former Mayor Michael Bonfanti is 71st on the list with a grand total of $95,234, but at the same time, 51 city employees earned more than $100,000 last year.

Bonfanti is so low on the list mainly because he never took a raise during his 10 years in office, and it’s not uncommon for police officers, conversely, to dominate the list of top earners, no matter the community, but it’s not because they rake in higher salaries than city officials. Police officers add to their generally modest salaries with detail pay, overtime and compensation under the Quinn Bill.

The legislation allows officers to be paid for advanced degrees and training they undergo during the course of their careers. The city also does not pay for traffic or safety details at private construction projects or events — only public ones.

For example, Cook earned $49,643 in detail pay and Quinn Bill compensation and $15,277 in overtime in addition to his regular salary of $64,073 to arrive at a grand total of $128,993. On the other hand, Champagne is not eligible for overtime, but added to his salary of $100,160 with $40,859 under the Quinn Bill.

Firefighters do receive overtime and detail pay for certain hazardous situations that require oversight, but they have no comparative Quinn Bill measure.

Deputy Fire Chief Richard Nelson earned $122,727 last year, supporting his base salary of $78,160 with $24,941 in overtime and $20,076 in other earnings. On the other hand, Chief Steven Pasdon’s regular salary was $102,124 and he earned an additional $9,018 in other earnings.

The city’s finance department simply lumps detail pay, the Quinn Bill, holiday pay, longevity bonuses and other allowances and stipends for employees under the category of “other.”

The highest paid female on the city payroll was Finance Director Patricia Schaffer, who earned $103,624 last year and is 36th on the list.

Top 20 earners for 2011

* Earnings reflect gross income

* Dr. Charles Milt Burnett retired in July from the School Department and therefore was not paid his full salary for the calendar year, which would otherwise have placed him near the top of the list.