http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/local/scn-sa-top1002jan21,0,4527680.story?coll=stam-news-local-headlines
By Donna Porstner
Staff Writer
January 21, 2007
The top 250 highest-paid Stamford city employees for 2006
STAMFORD - Eleven percent of municipal workers earned six-figure paychecks last year - nearly 100 more than in 2005.
Last year, 356 city and Board of Education employees earned more than $100,000, up from 265 a year earlier, payroll records show.
A decade ago, 15 workers earned six-figure salaries.
All of top 250 highest-paid city employees for 2006 earned $108,745 or more. Most are police officers, firefighters and school administrators. A few are city hall managers, teachers and school custodians.
As in other years, police and school administrators dominate the list. Police Capt. Richard Conklin, who oversees the detective bureau and major investigations, was at the top.
Conklin, in the top slot for the second year in a row, earned $260,638 last year - more than 2-1/2 times his $91,080 annual salary.
He is joined by dozens of other police officers who beef up their base pay by working overtime and extra duty - side jobs for private businesses and public utilities that are paid by the client, not taxpayers. Police officers are hired through the extra-duty program, which the city administers, to direct traffic at road construction sites and provide security for school events and businesses.
On-duty police officers can sign up to work 16 hours a day and occasionally work longer if they make an arrest late in their second shift.
Police Sgt. Richard Phelan was second, earning $234,787; Sgt. Thomas Scanlon was No. 3 with $194,837; Sgt. Joseph Kennedy was No. 4 with $194,248; and Lt. Eugene Dohmann rounded out the top five with $193,844.
Sixty police officers - about 20 percent of the force - were in the top 100 for 2006, up from 55 the previous year. More than half of the city's 298 police officers - 151 - earned $100,000 or more.
The school superintendent, who was No. 1 for many years, dropped to No. 6. Superintendent Joshua Starr earned $191,383 last year.
Ninety-three percent of the 100 highest paid work for the police department or the Board of Education. Five work for the fire department, one for the Health Department, two are tradesmen assigned to the schools, and one is a supervisor for the Office of Operations.
"People in city government are doing all right, particularly those with access to overtime," said Mayor Dannel Malloy, who fell from No. 99 on the list in 2005 to No. 136 last year.
Malloy, who earned $121,317, made a few bucks more than business teacher Howard Levy, but he made less than school painter Robert Fortin, who earned $121,455, and school carpenter Salvatore Boccuzzi, who took home $156,214.
"That's not that hard to do," Fortin said of surpassing the mayor's salary. "Unfortunately, he's severely underpaid."
Fortin and Boccuzzi said they had more opportunities to work overtime last year because their departments were understaffed. Boccuzzi also said his staff took on jobs the city previously contracted out, such as work on the Stamford High School expansion, in an effort to save money. Even with overtime, it's cheaper to have city workers do jobs than to bring in outsiders, Boccuzzi said.
The salaries of unionized employees have kept pace with other municipalities and the private sector, but the city needs to increase the pay of managers who are not in labor unions and do not qualify for traditional pensions, Malloy said.
No members of the mayor's Cabinet made the top 100 last year. The highest-paid city manager was Health Director Dr. Johnnie Lee, who ranked No. 21 and earned $152,257.
"The pay plan is out of whack and has got to be adjusted - and I know the Board of Reps is anxious to do it - because clearly the nonunion workforce is falling behind again, and it's going to get harder to hire people," Malloy said.
Director of Human Resources Dennis Murphy has asked the Personnel Commission to move 17 city managers in the pay plan for nonunion, elected and appointed officials - which includes the mayor, his Cabinet, the town clerk and key department heads, including Murphy - higher on their salary scales because their wages are not keeping pace with their subordinates.
Some nonunion employees are below the midpoints of their salary ranges after 10 years on the job because, unlike union workers, they are not eligible for step increases, Murphy said.
Six of the 17 employees in the pay plan made the list of top 250 city earners last year, down from nine in 2005.
Murphy has proposed giving nonunion employees opportunities to move up the salary scale based on performance, which would provide a faster rise than the typical 3 percent annual raises. The Personnel Commission, Board of Finance and Board of Representatives would have to approve such a change.
"There are a great number of people who report to the director of administration and director of operations who make a lot more than their boss," Murphy said. "At some point, the city is going to have a problem with the recruitment and the retention of the senior staff."
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