Bridgeport layoff list released

By KEILA TORRES, Staff writer
Article Last Updated: 09/25/2008 11:50:30 PM EDT

BRIDGEPORT -- Three days after announcing a second round of citywide layoffs, Mayor Bill Finch on Thursday finally released the names of the 31 employees given their pink slips this week.

In an editorial meeting with the Connecticut Post, Finch's Chief of Staff Adam Wood and Chief Financial Officer Andrew Nunn hand-delivered the list of municipal employees whose jobs are being cut to save money as officials grapple with a ballooning budget deficit.

"The deal with the intrigue was we wanted people to have their letters before the list was out," Nunn said, referring to the three-day delay in revealing the names of workers being laid off. He added that the mayor had warned more people could lose their jobs after the first round of layoffs in the spring.

The 31 layoffs could save the city almost $1.9 million, administration officials said.

The list was partially compiled using input from municipal department heads about ways to cut 10 percent to 20 percent of their agency's expenditures, Nunn said.

"Within some of the departments they felt they could make cuts to personnel so some of this is based on that," he said.

Despite reports by some city department heads Tuesday that they were not included in the layoff decisions, Nunn insisted, "Department heads were all involved in the process. They were contacted a number of times."

The highest-paid worker to be laid off is Andrew Abate, the Water Pollution Control Authority manager. It is unclear who will take over his duties, for which he most recently was paid a salary of $109,846.

Next highest salaries on the layoff list were paid to Deputy Police Chiefs James Honis and Adam Radzimirski, who both were paid a standard salary of $97,258. They both also were eligible for overtime as are other highly paid supervisors in the Police Department, a fact that was particularly irksome to the mayor.

The layoff list also includes recycling foreman Anthony DePrimo, who returned to work two weeks ago, following an unpaid leave of several months, after refuting allegations that he illegally pocketed overtime.

Two names on the list were not released, although their positions were included, pending notice to those employees.

Wood said some of the layoffs reflect department consolidations or, in the case of the Police Department, structural reforms. In addition to the two deputy chiefs, the police force will lose two captains, one lieutenant and five sergeants. Five park police officers, employees of the Park Department, are also being laid off, essentially wiping out that force.

All of the employees were given 30-day notices, except for two voting machine mechanics whose last day will be Nov. 14, 10 days after the fall general election.