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There’s gold in them thar trash bins.

Nearly 100 city Sanitation Department garbage collectors and supervisors hauled in more than $100,000 in overtime last year — pushing some of their yearly salaries to almost $300,000, payroll records show.

By comparison, just two Sanit workers reaped six figures in OT during the 2019-20 fiscal year and zero in 2018-19 — while the head of their department, Commissioner Edward Grayson, is netting well below that, earning an annual salary of around $230,000, records show.

A department rep said the lucrative wage boost for the workers was the result of staffing shortages during the COVID-19 pandemic, delays in hiring replacements and a heavy snowfall last year.

But Peter Warren, research director of the Empire Center for Public Policy, said the pandemic also exposed labor inefficiencies in the agency.

“Chronically high absenteeism and inefficient union work rules have long contributed to excessive overtime pay levels at the Sanitation Department,’’ Warren told The Post.

“The pandemic surely aggravated the situation.’’

The agency’s top OT earners were notably all supervisors with 20 years or more of service — meaning they are retirement-eligible and can use the overtime to fatten their pension.

All of the top-10 earners were supervisors with base pay at $108,846.

“It is a nice windfall, though at the time, it didn’t feel that way,’’ former supervisor Devon Graham told The Post of his hefty recent OT egg, which landed him sixth on the agency’s list of highest overtime payouts.

Graham, who worked out of Queens, retired two weeks ago after netting $153,393 in OT for the past full fiscal year, helping to nearly double his salary for a grand total of $282,153.

“For two years, I had dark marks underneath my eyes that just started to go away,’’ the former supervisor said. “The last two years were unusual. I was constantly working because of COVID.’’

Christopher Tamas, a Bronx supervisor hired in 2000, was the agency’s OT king.
He pulled in a mammoth $170,883 in OT and $17,967 in “other pay,” bringing his total compensation to $299,160.

His overtime increased by $70,000 from the previous year, payroll records show. Tamas declined comment.

The guy who landed No. 3 on the list of top Sanit OT earners, Queens supervisor Joseph Polidoro, said he was shocked to learn of his status.

Polidoro racked up $161,609 in OT and $9,623 in other pay to bring his annual haul up to $281,540.

“How’s that possible? … I’m going to be honest with you, that’s completely wrong. I can’t imagine how I’d be No. 3,” Polidoro told The Post.

“That doesn’t make sense. I’m nowhere near what other people do, I believe. I know it’s all hearsay, but if that’s accurate, I’m truly surprised.”

Bronx supervisor Mark Logan, who came in at No. 10, made $138,992 in OT, bringing his total pay to $268,013.

“I’m asked to work, that’s all. They ask me to work, I work,” Logan said.

“I don’t keep track.”

The department had the highest jump in overtime pay for the past fiscal year — an 86 percent hike — when compared to the city’s other uniformed services, according to an analysis by the Empire Center for Public Policy.

That amounted to $151 million in FY 2020 to $283 million last year. Total OT for the Sanitation Department was just $138 million in 2019.

By comparison, OT for the city Fire Department increased just 6 percent — and overtime actually dropped by 39 percent in the Police Department.

Sanit rep Joshua Goodman told The Post, “At one point, up to 25 percent of the department was out due to a positive COVID-19 diagnosis or suspected contact.

“This required significant overtime, particularly from supervisors and superintendents, who worked 12-hour shifts throughout much of the year to cover pandemic-related staff shortages without a service disruption,” Goodman said.

The department did not conduct its annual hiring and promotion classes in the summer of 2020 amid the pandemic, which reduced staffing levels.

The city was also hit with 25 inches of snow during back-to-back storms in the winter of 2020, requiring massive OT.

“When there are fewer staff, the amount of work does not change — and so the people working must work overtime,’’ Goodman said. “We will always do whatever it takes to give New Yorkers the clean, safely passable streets they deserve.”

Harry Nespoli, head of the Uniformed Sanitationmen’s Association, said the spike in OT is not a surprise given the department’s staffing shortage.

“They didn’t hire new people for over a year. They didn’t hire nobody during the pandemic because there was a hiring freeze,’’ he said.

“The garbage needs to be picked up.”

Some of the supervisors who were among the 94 Sanitation employees to earn more than $100,000 in OT last year told The Post they didn’t feel comfortable talking about the boost.

Brooklyn supervisor John Sarno, who joined the department in 1997, came in at No. 2 on the list, receiving $164,673 in OT and $18,437 in other pay to boost his total income to $293,838 last year.

“I really don’t want to discuss my personal financial earnings,” he said.

Queens supervisor Philip Salvati’s $151,311 in OT raised his pay to $278,682, earning him seventh place.

“I can’t speak to anybody without representation,’’ Salvati told The Post. “Go deal with the department.”

Additional reporting by Reuven Fenton, Julia Marsh, Oumou Fofana and Khristina Narizhnaya

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