Joseph Pfeifer, the FDNY’s incoming second-in-command under Commissioner Laura Kavanagh, will take home a whopping $521,041 a year, The Post has learned.
The FDNY will pay Pfeifer, who starts March 20, a yearly salary of $242,727. He will also continue to collect his annual Fire Department pension of $278,314, officials confirmed.
After age 65, city retirees who take a new government job can legally “double dip” without a waiver. Pfeifer, who retired in 2018, is 67. He is also eligible because he didn’t get a disability pension, said FDNY spokeswoman Amanda Farinacci.
The embattled Kavanagh, facing a mutiny by top chiefs after she demoted three of them, pulled Pfeifer out of retirement largely because of his 37 years of firefighting and supervisory experience.
With his pension and new city paycheck, Pfeifer will take home more than Mayor Adams, who makes $258,750 a year. Kavanagh’s salary is $243,171.
Dozens of city retirees have taken government jobs and collect both pensions and paychecks. But Pfeifer would rake in the most of any NYC double dipper, according to available data on the Empire Center for Public Policy’s transparency website, SeeThroughNY.net.
“One can appreciate those who choose to work in the public sector, but some may think that half a million dollars or more in total compensation is outrageous, especially when both of those pots of money are funded and guaranteed by taxpayers, many of whom will never make that kind of money or have the benefit of a constitutionally guaranteed pension,” said Tim Hoefer, the Empire Center’s president and CEO.
In another unusual hire by Kavanagh, she tapped NYPD Lt. Luis M. Martinez as her chief of staff, awarding him a huge pay raise.
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The NYPD promoted Martinez to lieutenant on Oct. 28, raising his base salary from $118,056 to $122,892. He previously served as “special adviser” to Kavanagh starting in February 2022, when she worked as an assistant commissioner under then-Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro.
When promoted to chief of staff in January, Martinez got a 73% salary hike to $213,210. Now on the FDNY payroll, officials said his salary is commensurate to the position. He is on leave without pay from the NYPD, a spokesman said.
Critics say Martinez’s powerful post is an insult to some veteran fire chiefs and rank-and-file firefighters, who might bristle at a cop giving them orders. The long-simmering rivalry between the NYPD and the FDNY is dubbed the “Battle of the Badges.”
But Kavanagh likely chose Martinez because he is willing to execute her plans and advance her mission — without question, insiders say.
“He’s there to do what Kavanagh wants him to do,” one said. “You’d have to be insane to pick a fire chief [for the post] now – they all hate her.”
The FDNY erupted in turmoil last month when Kavanagh demoted three chiefs without consulting the department’s top uniformed officers, Chief of Department John Hodgens and Chief of Operations John Esposito. They promptly asked for demotions to their civil service titles, citing a “breach of trust.”
Since then, some eight others have requested demotions in protest, including the latest: Assistant Chief Kevin Brennan and Deputy Assistant Chief Charles Downey, who heads the Fire Academy. Kavanagh has not accepted any of the requests, Farinacci said.
Additional reporting by Joe Marino
