As has now become traditional, the largest paychecks in 2006 were issued to top school administrators and supervisory police officers working lots of overtime.

Leading the pack, much like his counterparts in other communities, was Supt. of Schools John J. Ramos, whose overall take was $215,983. Besides regular earnings of $210,027, he received some retroactive pay and some supplemental benefits.

Mayor John M. Fabrizi was 12th overall on the list, with total compensation of $129,129.

Except for educators, his earnings were exceeded by only five others — all Police Department employees. Their total compensation was inflated be overtime wages.

Deputy Police Chief James Honis, the department's top earner last year with a total of $149,351, said the city is short of its full-authorized force by some 80 police officers and is likely to be short again by the time they're replaced.

"The people working have to pick up the slack," he said of the substantial overtime paid to some cops.

But Bridgeport officers' earnings are dwarfed by their counterparts elsewhere, such as Stamford, where extra duty jobs can bring some over the $200,000 mark, he said.

The city's police received uniform allowances of $925, and adjustments for supplemental earnings reflecting their shifts.

Meanwhile, the mayor's regular earnings totaled $105,646, but he had a car-use benefit of nearly $10,000, as well as some bereavement pay.

For purposes of longevity pay, Fabrizi's earlier service as a teacher and school administrator is wrapped into the calculations for his mayoral compensation.

Fabrizi also bought back two weeks of his five weeks' vacation, as allowed by city policy.

Still, the mayor's pay was not as high as it might have been. He returned retroactive pay of $8,053 for the fiscal years of 2005 and 2006, delivering on his pledge after he confessed to abusing alcohol and cocaine while in office.

Finance Director Michael Lupkas said that money would stay in the city's general fund. On the non-education side of the budget, the top-10 wage earners were all police officers, except for Fabrizi (No. 6) and Budget Director Thomas Sherwood (No. 7), whose total compensation was $128,026.

Susan Silvers, who covers regional issues, can be reached at 330-6426.