The city's generous payroll and benefits system continues to draw fire for exorbitant overtime and often unchecked disability pensions.

In 2016, 76,166 rank-and-file city employees pocketed more than $100,000 mostly thanks to $1.3 billion in overtime charges, according to payroll data analyzed by OpenTheBooks.com.

With pensions costs slated to reach $10 billion annually, an expense that represents about 11 percent of the city's total budget and about 35 percent of the city's payroll, according to a report from the Manhattan Institute -- what kind of checks and balances does the city have in place to ensure city employees are not abusing overtime and pension payouts?

The sheer number of the city's employees, coupled with generous pension benefits, especially for those in the uniformed services, and the fact that overtime pay can be included in the calculation of an employee's final average salary, are some of the main factors driving up the cost of the pension system, said Maria Doulis, the vice president of the nonpartisan Citizens Budget Commission.