Wright: No raises for judges

State Rep. Chris Wright, a Bristol Democrat, just issued this press release:

REP. WRIGHT SAYS THIS IS NOT THE TIME

TO BE RAISING JUDGES’ SALARIES

State Rep. Chris Wright

State Representative Chris Wright (D-Bristol) says this is not the time to be considering raising the salaries of judges and he opposes a proposal that would hike the salaries for judges by an estimated $45,000 or more over the next four years.

Rep. Wright found a news report in the Connecticut Law Tribune disturbing that said Chief Justice Chase T. Rogers, in a 20-page report, called for the state’s judges and judicial magistrates to receive a pay raise of 11.3 per cent next year and 5.5 per cent for each of the following three years.

“I have nothing against our judges, but this is not the time to be raising anyone’s salaries in state employment,” Rep. Wright said. “There are thousands of state employees who are now in the second year of a salary freeze and raising the pay of judges who are already earning high salaries makes no sense.”

“We have just witnessed the fiasco of the pay raises awarded to employees of the state Department of Higher Education that has resulted in the resignation of the two top administrators and the revoking of other salary hikes,” Rep. Wright continued. “We are still facing a serious budget challenge, so let’s take pay raises off the table.”

“While there are judges who may have left the bench to join the private sector, the fact is there are lawyers in every court room in Connecticut yearning to be appointed a judge,” Rep. Wright said. “Judges probably deserve a pay raise, but there are people everywhere, both in the private and public sector, who deserve pay raises, but do not earn as much as judges.”

Rep.Wright is Vice Chair of the Housing Committee and serves on the Environment and Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committees.

Copyright 2012. All rights reserved. Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

Mayor won't bend on lawyers' plea for benefits

City lawyers who are seeking healthcare benefits for their part-time positions haven’t made a persuasive case, Mayor Art Ward said.

Ward called it “highly improper” for the city attorney, Dale Clift, to threaten to resign if he doesn’t get benefits before June 1.

“Economically, it’s not feasible,” Ward said “and, ethically, I don’t think it’s appropriate.”

Both Clift and an assistant city lawyer, Jeff Steeg, informed the mayor last week they would resign on June 1 unless the city provided healthcare benefits for the part-time jobs. Clift earns $33,000 as city attorney while Steeg gets $27,000 as an assistant.

Ward’s position has strong backing from at least one city councilor.

“I fully support 100 percent the mayor’s position,” city Councilor Ken Cockayne said. “I don’t agree with the tactics these guys took.”

Cockayne, a freshman Republican, said the pair “are trying to strong arm the mayor and council. I feel it is entirely inappropriate.”

The city has four lawyers, two full-time and two part-time. There is a fifth slot, for a part-time attorney, that has been vacant because the mayor and council could not agree on who should fill it.

Clift and Steeg told city officials last week they could not afford to keep doing the part-time city work unless they were included in the city’s healthcare coverage because their municipal posts are taking so much time away from their private practice.

Ward said he offered to fill the fifth attorney position if that would relieve some of the pressure and allow the two lawyers to stay on. He said Clift insisted that healthcare was the key.

City Councilor Cliff Block said he’s not ready to rule out offering medical insurance to the two lawyers.

He said he wants to know what other cities and towns in the region pay their lawyers so he can see how Bristol stacks up.

“I want to see what’s what” before making a decision, Block said.

The mayor and council met in executive session last week to talk to Clift and the personnel director, Diane Ferguson, about the threatened resignation. After they talked behind closed doors, the politicians booted out Clift and Ferguson to continue discussing options in secret.

It is unclear what, if anything, the politicians decided. They said they took no votes.

Ward said that he can’t give the lawyers a pay hike – or more benefits that cost the city – while he’s also trying to get municipal unions to agree to concessions that would save money for Bristol.

The city’s Salary Committee has occasionally discussed the idea of offering more to part-time lawyers, but it has never taken action on the proposal.

Ward said that no options are off the table and that a solution has to be found quickly.

He said he hopes he can find a way to preserve continuity in the lawyers’ office.

Cockayne said there is an obvious solution: hire Edward Krawiecki, Jr, who served as city attorney from 2006 to early 2008, to fill in.

Cocakyne said that Krawiecki is the only person he can think of who has the experience to step in and be reasonably current on the issues facing the city.

“He can do the job from day one,” Cockayne said.

Taking note of the likelihood that one of the city’s two full-time lawyers, Richard Lacey, may be out for a time this summer for personal reasons, Cockayne said the city has to act.

“We have to do something to relieve some of the pressure that’s going to be put on Ann Baldwin,” the other full-time city lawyer, Cockayne said.

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Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

Pay cuts for politicians

The next mayor and City Council will earn 5 percent less than the seven people currently holding the city’s top political offices.

The City Council voted unanimously this week to slash its pay – and the mayor’s $102,000 a year salary – for whoever wins election in November.

It has no way to reduce pay sooner because of a law prohibiting councilors from revising their own salaries until after the next election.

Mayor Art Ward, who proposed the cut, said that Bristol’s leaders need to show leadership “and set the direction” at a time when they’re asking municipal unions to make contract concessions in a bid to close a $1.8 million budget gap for the coming fiscal year.

City Councilor Ken Cockayne said he is “very happy” the mayor decided to support a reduction in pay after voting two months ago merely to freeze salaries in the next term.

This week’s vote covered only the mayor and council, not the part-time city treasurer or the Board of Assessment Appeals, who would have been included in the 3 percent pay cut proposed in March by city Councilor Cliff Block.

City Councilor Mike Rimcoski, who opposed a pay cut earlier this year, said he could vote for this one because it didn’t target anyone but the council and mayor.

The council also voted to freeze the pay of the treasurer and assessment panelists next term.

Also facing a wage freeze are city workers who aren’t in a union, including some department heads and lawyers.

It isn’t clear yet whether the move will help convince wary city union members to support reductions in their negotiated contracts. Many employees say they are reluctant to reopen deals the city made with them, even if it means layoffs for some.

City finance officials and Ward have indicated that if they can’t find savings through union concessions, they may have to lay off workers if they are going to freeze property taxes this year, as they insist they plan to do.

As many as 30 jobs could be on the on the line, but no list exists to clarify where cuts might be made.

The mayor and council will get a 5 percent cut in the first year of their two-year terms that start in November. The pay rate will remain the same in the second year.

Current pay for city leaders

Mayor - $102,025

City councilors - $10,156

City treasurer - $5,079

Board of Assessment Appeals chair -- $1,343

Board of Assessment Appeals - $1,140

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Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

This and that from the council meeting

Former Republican mayoral contender Ken Johnson and Mayor Art Ward exhanged some sharp words over the failure of the city to pursue vigorously the $400,000 or more than Connecticut Light and Power may owe the city for back streetlighting overcharges.
They really went at it.
Johnson blamed the city for doing nothing. Ward seemed to know nothing about it and thundered that Johnson should have told him, not just the city attorney's office.
I'll have much more on this after I make sense of it all in the days ahead.
Meanwhile, we've had nothing about the resigning lawyers. Yet.
The council approved a pay cut for the next mayor and City Council. They'll make 5 percent less than the council does this year. They also froze the pay of department heads and other non-union personnel.
More to come.

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Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

City GOP chief blasts Ward

Press release from city Republican Party Chairman T.J. Barnes:

Today Art Ward announced that he wanted to cut the Mayor’s Salary and the council’s salary by 5 percent as a cost cutting move in light of today’s economic hard times.  This very idea was suggested by Ken Cockayne, Cliff Block, and Kevin Mccauley back in March; Art Ward voted no to the idea and instead wanted a wage freeze.  Then on the day he officially announces his candidacy for Mayor he changes his mind and decides that he would like to call for a wage cut of 5 percent. 

While the idea of cutting wages of the elected officials when you are asking for the same concessions from the workers is a sign of leadership.  What was wrong with the idea back in March?  Was it because it wasn’t his idea?  Does the idea now help him get re-elected?  Doing what is good to get yourself re-elected is not leadership.  Stealing ideas from people and then claiming them as your own is not leadership.  Leadership is coming up with your own ideas, regardless of how they affect your personal ability to get re-elected. 

This is on top of negotiating new contracts with the City Unions and then 6 months later asking for concessions from those very Unions.  This economy has been in Recession since the summer of 2007 and we have known that the state budget deficit was going to be at record levels for quite some time, but why did the mayor not take that in to consideration when he negotiated new contracts?   The Mayor needs to show actual leadership and not just political leadership and flipping positions on issues for political reasons is not leadership.

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Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

Mayor: Cut my pay

With a second round of concession talks with city unions slated for Friday, Mayor Art Ward said tonight he would push for pay cuts for the mayor and city councilors “to demonstrate that we’re in this together.”
Ward said the city’s top elected officials should accept a 5 percent pay cut for the coming two years.
That would slice the mayor’s salary by $5,000 annually and snatch $500 a year from each of the six city councilors.
It’s move the mayor opposed less than two months ago, when he fought to freeze pay rather than slice salaries by 3 percent as city Councilor Cliff Block proposed.
“I guess I did have a great idea,” Block said Thursday, adding that he appreciated Ward’s change in position since the mayor would take the biggest hit of any official.
The mayor, who made the announcement during a speech at Nuchies declaring his candidacy for a second term, said he would be “sitting down” with municipal unions Friday morning.
They will be “talking about the potential for givebacks,” Ward said, that could help him close a $1.8 million budget gap that might otherwise require layoffs to close.
That the unions are willing to negotiate, Ward said, “speaks well for our opportunities” to reach an agreement that would help taxpayers.
Still, he said, “I don’t know what will come of that” session with union leaders.
Ward said he is determined to do whatever he can to freeze property taxes this year, a move that “is not going to be easy by any stretch of the imagination.”
Ward, a Democrat, blocked the effort to cut elected officials’ pay when he joined city Councilors Frank Nicastro and Mike Rimcoski in pushing instead for a pay freeze.
Block and two other city councilors, Ken Cockayne and Kevin McCauley, favored the 3 percent cut.
The council couldn’t reach a decision in March because one of its members, Craig Minor, was absent, leaving the others deadlocked at 3-3.
It doesn’t appear there will be opposition to the 5 percent cut now that Ward is on board with it.
Under the law, the mayor and council cannot set their own salaries. They have no power to reduce their pay immediately because it was set by those in power in 2007.
The proposal pushed by the mayor would reduce pay for those elected this coming November.

Current pay for city leaders
Mayor - $102,025
City councilors - $10,156

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Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

Councilors refuse to cut own pay

Faced with the chance to freeze or cut the salaries of the city’s elected officials this week, city councilors did nothing.

Three councilors sought to impose a two-year freeze on pay for those elected this November, but three others voted against it.

The trio who opposed it said they want to see a pay cut instead, an idea that couldn’t muster support from the three who backed a freeze.

One city councilor, Democrat Craig Minor, missed the meeting.

But it’s not clear which way he would have gone.

“I need to know more before I make a decision,” Minor said Wednesday.

The city’s Salary Committee recommended freezing the pay of elected officials for the next term, a move that hasn’t been done in years.

But city Councilors Cliff Block and Ken Cockayne said they want to see salaries cut back by 3 percent for the mayor, city councilors, treasurer and Board of Assessment Appeals members.

Block said that officials had no idea “the sky was going to fall” on the economy last year when they agreed to hike elected officials’ pay by 3 percent in 2008. Reeling it back down, he said, would set the right example for the rest of city government.

Cockayne said that Bristol’s leaders should show “they are willing to take a cut” and not just hold the line on increases.

Three officials – Mayor Art Ward and city Councilors Frank Nicastro and Mike Rimcoski – said that freezing pay was the right move for the times.

Nicastro told Ward that as the city’s leader, he earns his money.

“You’re far from the highest paid” municipal worker, Nicastro told the mayor, pointing out that the Top 50 earners all raked in substantially more than the mayor.

City Councilor Kevin McCauley said he didn’t think the council could take up the idea of reducing pay because the salary panel had been told to consider a freeze. He said the committee should have a chance to reexamine options.

The issue is likely going to be taken up again at the May council meeting. If nothing is done, though, the pay would remain the same for the next term.

The city is obligated to set the salary for elected officials before the municipal elections so that voters will know how much the people they choose will earn. The pay rates can’t be changed mid-term.

Rimcoski told Block that he had a chance to freeze pay, but refused.

“I hope you enjoy your 300 extra bucks, Mike,” Block responded.\

Current pay for city leaders

Mayor - $102,025

City councilors - $10,156

City treasurer - $5,079

Board of Assessment Appeals chair -- $1,343

Board of Assessment Appeals - $1,140

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Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

PTA Council to school administrators: Cut your pay!

The most highly paid school employees should take a pay cut, the Bristol PTA Council argues, in order to help prevent layoffs or class size increases that would hurt the city’s education system.

In a letter send to the Board of Education recently, the council of parent-teacher associations in town said it doesn’t want to shortchange children.

To promote fiscal responsibility, the council proposed “that all non-union salaried Board of Education employees grossing $100,000 or over take a 5% pay cut for the upcoming fiscal year” and those earning between $75,000 and $100,000 annually take a 3 percent cut.

“This proposal would only affect base salaries and not fringe benefits or retirement contributions,” the council said in its letter to school board members.

 The council estimated the savings for the fiscal year starting July 1 at more than $215,000 if school officials were to go along with the request.

The school board endorsed what it calls a “go forward” budget last week that seeks almost 4 percent more money than education received this year. The $104 million plan would essentially maintain the existing staff and programs.

The PTA group said that “in these tough economic times families are having to tighten their budgets. Workers are taking furloughs, cutting their hours, or giving back vacation time.  Services are being cut to those in need and cities are having to take hard looks at their bottom lines and cut away any excess.”

“The one area that can not afford to be cut is the education of our children,” it said.

“When these economic times change we don’t want to look back and find that our children were denied the opportunities to learn and advance at the same rate as their peers just one town over,” the letter to school leaders said.

“We need to position our children at the forefront of our agenda to ensure that when the time comes they are prepared to be a nation of leaders and workers who will continue to support the economy’s growth and recovery.

It said the proposal to cut highly paid salaries “may only preserve the jobs of a few teachers and staff, but every job saved counts and shows that the board is willing to take the necessary measures to preserve the quality of the education our students receive,” the council said.

“If we are asking our teachers and staff to work with fewer resources and we know that families are pinching pennies to make ends meet then we need to show that our top paid BOE employees are willing to follow suit,” it said.

Here's the full text of the letter:

March 3, 2009

Dear Commissioners of the Bristol Board of Education:

In these tough economic times families are having to tighten their budgets. Workers are taking furloughs, cutting their hours, or giving back vacation time.  Services are being cut to those in need and cities are having to take hard looks at their bottom lines and cut away any excess.  The one area that can not afford to be cut is the education of our children.  When these economic times change we don’t want to look back and find that our children were denied the opportunities to learn and advance at the same rate as their peers just one town over.  We need to position our children at the forefront of our agenda to ensure that when the time comes they are prepared to be a nation of leaders and workers who will continue to support the economy’s growth and recovery.

 In order to promote being fiscally responsible the Bristol PTA Council would like to propose to the Board of Education and the Finance Committee that all non-union salaried Board of Education employees grossing $100,000 or over take a 5% pay cut for the upcoming fiscal year beginning July 1, 2009.  We would further propose that all non-union salaried employees who gross $75,000 or more take a 3% pay cut for the upcoming fiscal year.   This proposal would only affect base salaries and not fringe benefits or retirement contributions.

 This may only preserve the jobs of a few teachers and staff but every job saved counts and shows that the board is willing to take the necessary measures to preserve the quality of the education our students receive.  If we are asking our teachers and staff to work with fewer resources and we know that families are pinching pennies to make ends meet then we need to show that our top paid BOE employees are willing to follow suit.

 The savings for the upcoming fiscal year is conservatively averaged at over $215,000, which may not be the final solution to our budget crisis but a significant beginning.  One that shows in tough economic times a slight decrease in pay that allows for the preservation of jobs is the responsible choice.  We are confident the board will continue to make cuts that will not directly impact the quality of education; such as freezing non-essential travel for professional development and instead look internally at the strengths of the educators employed by the city to help provide those opportunities for teachers and staff. The board should also take a look at the use their resources and whether the staff at Central office all hold positions vital for the basic operation of the BOE. The staff size of the Central office has nearly doubled over the past 5 years. 

Increasing class size is not an acceptable solution and needs to be avoided at all costs.  The Bristol Council PTA appreciates the consideration of our proposal and looks forward to creating an alliance that will strengthen our vested interest in ensuring an equal and quality education for all of Bristol’s students.

 Respectfully Submitted,

Bristol PTA Council

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Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

Highest paid city workers easily outpacing inflation

Fifteen years ago, only 13 city workers earned more than $75,000 annually.
Last year, the least any of the top 13 municipal wage earners raked in was just a little less than $138,000 – a $63,000 jump since 1993.
If the city had merely matched the inflation rate during the intervening years, its 13th highest paid worker would be collecting $110,000 now.
Every one of the Top 50 wage earners working for the city hauled in more than that.
But nobody came close to the amount paid to school Superintendent Philip Streifer, who smashed the city’s record for annual pay on the way to claiming the number one spot with $192,281 in compensation, based on the city’s yearly accumulators report.
The average take-home pay for the city’s Top 50 wage earners last year was a record $130,713 – up 11 percent from 2007 – and more than double the median family income in Bristol.
The annual list, provided by the comptroller’s office, shows the top earns include 30 school administrators, 17 police officers, Fire Chief Jon Pose and two city supervisors, the comptroller and the public works director.
Five of the Top 10 are police officers who racked up considerable overtime. Last year’s top earner, Lt. Joel Estes, placed third this year, trailing both Streifer and Lt. Jack Michaud, who earned $163,471.
The big paychecks collected by many police officers are deceptive.
Those pocketing big bucks do a lot of private security jobs on the side _ particularly directing traffic during road construction _ to pull in overtime checks paid by the contractors, not the taxpayers.
The city bills the private employers for officers' time -- and adds 12 percent to the tab to cover administrative expenses -- and doesn't count the extra pay for pension or other purposes. Taxpayers only foot the bill for officers' city work and probably save because the city actually turns a small profit from the practice, officials have said.
The number of women among the Top 50 remained at last year’s tally of 14, which was five more than had ever made the list before. All of them are school principals or administrators.
Municipal benefits extend to more than just paychecks. City and school workers get generous fringe benefits, including cheap but excellent health insurance and good pensions.
Fringe benefits cost taxpayers at least another 15 percent above the wages an employee earns.
The city comptroller’s office compiles the annual list of the top 50 earners by checking its year-to-date accumulators report to indicate how much each employee takes home.
The numbers are close, but not necessarily the same, as the figures listed on the W-2 forms given employees each January. Comptroller’s office personnel said the accumulators report is a more accurate measure.
The Bristol Press has been printing the Top 50 wage earners list for many years.


City of Bristol

2008
FIFTY HIGHEST WAGE EARNERS

EMPLOYEE WAGES


1 Philip Streifer $192,280.59
Superintendent

2 Jack Michaud $163,471.36
Police Lieutenant

3 Joel Estes $161,130.55
Police Lieutenant

4 Paul Hines $158,834.42
Detective Sergeant

5 William Smyth $154,458.55
Asst. to the Superintendant of Business

6 Susan Moreau $152,018.19
Asst. Superintendent

7 Denise Carabetta $150,648.59
Director of Office of Teaching & Learning

8 Mark Moskowitz $150,414.77
Police Lieutenant

9 Kim Hapken $149,193.55
Director of Special Services

10 John McNellis $147,519.99
Police Sergeant

11 Anthony Malavenda $146,957.53
Director of Human Services

12 John Sassu $141,985.95
Police Sergeant

13 V. Everett Lyons $137,926.17
Principal, Bristol Eastern High School

14 Steven Tavares $134,699.31
Police Sergeant

15 Kevin Morrell $134,638.70
Police Lieutenant

16 Martin Semmel $134,300.85
Principal, Bristol Central High School

17 Christopher Lennon $133,781.45
Police Detective Sergeant

18 Jean Andrews $128,284.02
Principal, Hubbell Elementary School

19 Brian Gould $127,280.15
Police Lieutenant

20 Catherine Carbone $126,847.06
Principal, Chippens Hill Middle School

21 Dennis Siegmann $126,727.06
Principal, Northeast Middle School

22 John Divenere $125,477.89
Police Chief

23 Roseann Voijtek $125,248.56
Principal, Ivy Drive Elementary School

24 Gail Gilmore $125,008.56
Principal, Jennings Elementary School

25 Jon Pose $124,030.84
Fire Chief

26 Donn Watson $122,362.25
Police Lieutenant

27 Rodney Gotowala $122,346.42
Police Sergeant

28 Marcianne Jones $122,200.21
Principal, Memorial Boulevard Middle School

29 Richard Brown $122,055.76
Police Lieutenant

30 Michael Audette $121,094.88
Principal, O'Connell Elementary School

31 Steven Bent $121,094.88
Principal, Bingham Elementary School

32 Gary Maynard $121,094.88
Principal, South Side Elementary School

33 Dennis Bieu $121,094.88
Principal, Mt. View Elementary School

34 Angela Rossbach $120,758.88
Principal, Edgewood Elementary School

35 Catherine Cassin $120,758.88
Principal, Stafford Elementary School

36 Peter Gaudet $120,686.88
Principal, Green Hills Elementary School

37 Andrew Langlais $120,181.34
Police Lieutenant

38 Maria Groody $119,853.80
Director of Adult Education

39 Walter Veselka $119,518.67
Director, Public Worksl

40 Glenn Klocko $119,518.55
Comptroller

41 Daniel Viens $118,952.38
Asst. Principal, Bristol Eastern High School

42 Daniel Sonstrom $118,556.38
Asst. Principal, Bristol Central High School

43 Ellen Benham $117,879.86
Supervisor of Athletic Office

44 Edward Spyros $117,005.88
Police Lieutenant

45 Edward Keleher $116,761.18
Asst. Principal, Bristol Eastern High School

46 Christopher Cassin $116,477.02
Asst. Principal, Chippens Hill Middle School

47 Richard Gagliardi $116,456.02
Supervisor of the Technology Center

48 Anne Gobes $115,924.96
Early Childhood

49 Mary Hawk $115,572.11
Asst. Principal, Chippens Hill Middle School

50 Daniel McIntyre $114,291.89
Police Captain

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Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

Watch for the Top 50 List later today

It's that time of year again.

And this year we have an all-time high holding the number one spot in the annual accounting of the most highly paid municipal workers in Bristol.

Holding down the number one spot is school Superintendent Philip Streifer, who pulled in a bit more than $192,000 last year, according to the city comptroller's office.

Down at the number 50 spot, where the yearly tally cuts off, you'll find Police Capt. Daniel McIntyre, who made $114,000 and change.

In between are a whole lot of school administrators and police officers who managed to rake in overtime. A couple of others also landed on the list, including the city's public works director and comptroller.

The details later...

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Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

City's politicians freeze own pay, but reject effort to cut their salaries

City councilors plan to freeze the pay of Bristol’s elected leaders for the next two years, but a committee turned back an attempt to reduce salaries instead.

The three-person Salary Committee recently backed a pay freeze that would lock in this year’s salary levels through 2011.

City Councilor Frank Nicastro, who chairs the salary panel, said the freeze would send a message to taxpayers and municipal workers that Bristol’s elected leaders are ready to set an example for the sacrifices needed to get through the economic crisis.

But city Councilor Cliff Block said he would prefer to slice the pay levels by 3 percent so that election officials would make what they did in 2008.

Block argued that when the 3 percent raise for this year was set back in 2007, “we didn’t know the world was coming to an end in ’08.”

He said that nobody would have supported that increase had they known so much turmoil and heartache lay ahead.

Block said a pay cut would send an even stronger message than a freeze.

But Nicastro and the panel’s other member, city Councilor Mike Rimcoski, said that a pay freeze was enough.

Nicastro said that he’s not running for reelection so the money doesn’t matter to him at all. He said this simply a matter of conscience and fairness.

“We had a chance to make a statement,” Block said, “but I got outmaneuvered by the two older gents.”

Block said that Ward, the only elected leader to earn full-time pay, would lose about $3,000 a year the council backed a 3 percent cut.

“Art doesn’t need that other 3 grand,” Block said.

Rimcoski said he would go along with letting officials have the option of taking less money, if that’s possible.

Block said that taking less money themselves would perhaps help with efforts to push for the city’s unions to accept cuts.

But Nicastro and Rimcoski said there is no way that municipal unions would ever agree to a pay cut. A freeze, they said, is possible. But a pay cut goes too far, they said.

“I want a pay cut,” Block said.

In committee, Block was the only one to vote for the 3 percent cut. He did not join Nicastro and Rimcoski in voting for the freeze instead.

Rimcoski, the salary panel’s only Republican, said he favored a freeze because that’s what Mayor Art Ward asked the panel to do.

Nicastro said that he wouldn’t necessarily object to cutting the pay for councilors and the mayor, but it would be wrong to slice the pay of the treasurer or Board of Assessment Appeals members who earn so little now.

But the difference is minimal.

A Board of Assessment Appeals member would make $1,140 for the next two years if pay is frozen. It it’s cut 3 percent, he would get $33 a year less.

The treasurer would earn $296 less over the two years if his pay were cut 3 percent.

The Salary Committee’s pay freeze proposal heads to the council in March, where it’s possible another effort to cut the pay of elected officials may be made.

Current pay for city leaders

Mayor - $102,025

City councilors - $10,156

City treasurer - $5,079

Board of Assessment Appeals chair -- $1,343

Board of Assessment Appeals - $1,140

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Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

Top 50 Wage Earners for City of Bristol

The average take-home pay for the city’s Top 50 wage earners last year was a record $117,726, more than double the median family income in Bristol.
The annual list, provided by the comptroller’s office, shows the top earns include 29 school administrators, 17 police officers and four city supervisors.
Fourteen of the Top 50 earners were women last year, all of them employed in the school system, which is a big increase over the previous high. There have never been more than nine women on the list in the past.
The highest-paid city worker was Police Lt. Joel Estes, who raked in $149,575.
Oddly, Estes has been inching closer to the top for years, moving up one slot a year since 2003, when he was fifth on the tally. The following year, Estes placed fourth. Then in 2005, he was third. A year ago, Estes was the runner-up, coming in second.
This time around, though, Estes easily landed at the top of the heap.
Police officers who earn extra pay by pulling extra shifts and taking on private duty assignments guarding grocery stores, traffic control at construction sites and the like can vastly increase their annual pay. Thirteen of the top 20 city earners come from the ranks of the police.
But school officials generally have the highest regular pay.
William Smyth, the assistant superintendent for business, pulled in $142,129 in his last full year on the job to claim second place on the yearly tally. He’s planning to retire this summer.
Perhaps most surprising, though, is that former School Superintendent Mike Wasta managed to earn $135,554 – and secure a fifth place finish – despite retiring at the end of June.
The highest paid worker at City Hall, easily topping the mayor’s salary, was Comptroller Glenn Klocko, who pulled in $113,827, a bit more than Fire Chief Jon Pose.
Police Lt. Mark Moskowitz, who is number six on the list, has earned about $130,000 a year for the past decade by racking up overtime. That was enough to put him at the top of the tally for six years in a row, but school salaries have escalated enough to have drop from the leading slot because his pay has remained static.
Though the private duty overtime earned by police officers shows up on city wage reports, taxpayers probably save money from the practice.
The city bills the private employers for officers' time -- and adds 12 percent to the tab to cover administrative expenses -- and doesn't count the extra pay for pension or other purposes. Taxpayers only foot the bill for officers' normal city work.
The city comptroller’s office compiles the annual list of the top 50 earners by checking its year-to-date accumulators report for 2000 to indicate how much each employee takes home.
The numbers are close, but not necessarily the same, as the figures listed on the W-2 forms given employees each January. Comptroller’s office personnel said the accumulators report is a more accurate measure.

Here's this year's list:

1. Joel Estes, police lieutenant, $149,575.11
2. William Smyth, assistant to superintendent for business, $142,129.25
3. Susan Moreau, assistant superintendent, $139,760.61
4. Anthony Malavenda, school personnel director, $137,988.43
5. Michael Wasta, superintendent (retired 6/30/2007), $135,553.72
6. Mark Moskowitz, police lieutenant, $130,177.00
7. Jack Michaud, police lieutenant, $128,855.43
8. Everett V. Lyons, Eastern High principal, $127,550.57
9. John McNellis, police sergeant, $127,457.91
10. Richard Brown, police lieutenant, $126,168.07
11. John Sassu, police sergeant, $125,370.27
12. Stephen Tavares, police sergeant, $125,242.28
13. Kevin Morrell, police lieutenant, $125,029.45
14. Edward Spyros, police lieutenant, $121,860.18
15. Denise Carabetta, director, Office of Teaching & Learning, $121,678.49
16. Paul Hines, police detective sergeant, $121,638.62
17. Christopher Lennon, police detective sergeant, $120,976.63
18. Catherine Carbone, Chippens Hill principal, $119,898.40
19. John Divenere, police chief, $117,386.55
20. Rodney Gotowala, police sergeant, $116,267.05
21. Gail Gilmore, Jennings principal, $115,569.53
22. Roseanne Vojtek, Ivy Drive principal, $115,569.53
23. Martin Semmel, Central principal, $115,474.45
24. Glenn Klocko, city comptroller, $113,827.29
25. Jon Pose, fire chief, $113,724.80
26. Walter Veselka, public works director, $113,724.80
27. Peter Wininger, Central assistant principal, $113,628.33
28. Kim Hapken, director, special services for Board of Ed., $112,891.83
29. Jean Andrews, Hubbell principal, $112,559.53
30. Steven Bent, Bingham principal, $112,559.53
31. Gary Maynard, South Side principal, $112,559.53
32. Dennis Bieu, Mt. View principal, $112,559.53
33. Catherine Cassin, Stafford principal, $112,163.52
34. Peter Gaudet, Greene-Hills principal, $112,151.53
35. Michael Audette, O'Connell principal, $111,809.53
36. Carly Fortin, supervisor of Teaching & Learning for 6-12, $111,569.86
37. Angela Rossbach, Edgewood principal, $111,424.03
38. Donn Watson, police lieutenant, $111,328.90
39. Daniel Viens, Eastern assistant principal, $110,581.97
40. Daniel Sonstrom, Central assistant principal, $110,185.97
41. Marciann Jones, Memorial Boulevard principal, $109,414.62
42. Christopher Cassin, Chippens Hill assistant principal, $108,211.53
43. Teresa Debrito, Northeast assistant principal, $108,199.53
44. William Wolfe, streets superintendent, $107,784.15
45. Andrew Langlais, police lieutenant, $107,283.57
46. Daniel McIntyre, police captain, $106,709.45
47. Rochelle Schwartz, K-12 science supervisor, $106,102.41
48. Martha Nowobilski, Memorial Boulevard assistant principal, $105,655.66
49. Richard Gagliardi. technology supervisor, $105,423.53
50. Christopher Michaud, police officer, $105,110.03

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Copyright 2008. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com