The close confidant who New York City Mayor Eric Adams put on the payroll of the city’s economic development corporation earlier this year is earning more than $242,000 in salary — making him among the highest paid employees in city government, according to city records and documents released late Friday afternoon.
Timothy Pearson, a retired police inspector who was already drawing a New York Police Department pension, was hired by the New York City Economic Development Corporation on May 31, while retaining his prior job as head of security at the city’s only casino.
But in July and August, aides to Mr. Adams refused to disclose Mr. Pearson’s city salary — information that is typically public — in response to inquiries from The New York Times.
The figures released on Friday in response to a freedom of information request show that Mr. Pearson earns only a few hundred dollars less than the chief executive of the agency that pays his salary.
Andrew Kimball, the president and chief executive officer of the economic development corporation, who earlier also declined to answer questions about Mr. Pearson’s salary, earns $243,170, the records show, slightly more than Mr. Pearson’s salary of $242,600.
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The organization’s chief operating officer, Melissa Burch, whose LinkedIn profile shows she had nearly two decades of experience in the real-estate industry before joining the economic development agency in April, earns $212,000, according to the records.
Mr. Adams earns about $258,000 a year as mayor. Deputy mayors in his administration earn $252,000, according to City Hall.
The Times reported in August that Mr. Pearson, who retired from the New York Police Department in 2011, was simultaneously working for the city and the private casino company, while also collecting a police pension. Mr. Pearson and the casino parted ways soon after.
A spokesman for the mayor, Fabien Levy, said Mr. Pearson’s decades of public safety experience “make him uniquely qualified” for his city job.
City officials have said Mr. Pearson’s title is senior adviser to the mayor for public safety and Covid recovery, and that his responsibilities have included working with law enforcement, advising the mayor on Covid recovery, interfacing with the business community, and working on a plan to keep city schools open.
Government watchdog groups have criticized Mr. Adams’s hiring practices, which have entailed hiring his brother and other longtime friends besides Mr. Pearson.
“What the mayor is doing is making a mockery out of hiring based on professional qualification and expertise,” said John Kaehny, the executive director of Reinvent Albany, a good-government group. “And this is patronage and cronyism and it undermines the professionalism of city government.”
State law prohibits city officials from simultaneously receiving a city salary and city pension. But Mr. Pearson was able to collect both his salary and his $124,000 annual Police Department pension because he is on the payroll of the development corporation, a nonprofit controlled by the mayor. Mr. Pearson, who was among a small group onstage with Mr. Adams when he was sworn in on New Year’s Eve in Times Square, served on the police force with the mayor and is one of Mr. Adams’s closest confidants.
Mr. Pearson’s now-former employer, the Resorts World Casino at the Aqueduct racetrack in Queens, is vying for one of three newly available, full-scale casino licenses, which would allow it to expand from electronic games to become a full-service casino. City support could help boost that effort.
Also among the records released by the economic development agency on Friday was a handwritten request submitted by Mr. Pearson to hold a second job. The request was dated June 1, the day after he began his city job.
The Economic Development Corporation approved Mr. Pearson’s request on July 28, the records show, on the conditions that he not use city time or resources for his casino job or disclose any confidential information.
In his request to keep his casino job, Mr. Pearson estimated that he was earning $100 an hour at Resorts World, and said he would work there in his off hours, primarily nights and weekends. He did not indicate whether he was paid an annual salary or on an hourly basis.
Mr. Pearson declined to comment and referred all questions about his role and salary to Mr. Levy.
Mr. Levy referred further questions about Mr. Pearson’s employment to the city’s Economic Development Corporation. A representative of the development corporation said that he had no immediate comment on Friday evening.