TOWN OF GREENWICH Number making $100K triples
In 10 years, salaries of top town employees earning 6 figures increases from 302 to 966
GREENWICH — Members of the Greenwich Police Department and educators in the Greenwich Public Schools dominate the list of highestearning town employees, rankings that show how lucrative extra-duty work is for GPD officers.
Louis Pannone, a lieutenant in the GPD with 38 years of service is earning $275,042 this fiscal year, making him the top earner on the town payroll.
He is followed by E. Ann Carabillo, the town deputy superintendent of schools. She has been a Greenwich employee for two years and is earning $216,612 this year, with Ralph Mayo coming next at $214,878. Mayo, a school system employee for 26 years, is the interim superintendent of schools and will take over as interim headmaster of Greenwich High School this summer.
Mayo is followed by Irene Parisi, the school system’s chief academic officer, who has been with the district for six years and is earning $212,971. Town Comptroller Peter Mynarski, a 14-year employee, ranks fifth at $208,954.
The rest of the Top 10 is made up of Town Administrator Ben Branyan at $204,128; Public Works Commissioner Amy Siebert at $199,817; Mary Forde, chief of pupil personnel
services for the Greenwich Public Schools, at $198,088; the school district’s Director of Human Resources Robert Stacy at $195,626; and Richard Piotrzkowski, interim GHS headmaster this year, at $194,835.
The list of salaries was provided to Greenwich Time by the town Department of Human Resources per a request under the Freedom of Information Act. The town has nearly 3,500 employees on its payroll, which includes all full-time and parttime employees in addition to seasonal, temporary and nonunion employees. That number fluctuates throughout the year.
Of those employees, 966 are slated to gross more than $100,000 in the 2018-19 fiscal year, which is a sizable increase from a decade ago. In the 200809 fiscal year, 302 employees earned that much.
However, the list looks very different if it takes into account extra-duty work by members of the Police Department. When those numbers are added in, police officers take up the entire Top 10 and 17 spots in the Top 20.
Under that metric, Pannone earned $339,037, and is followed in the Top Five by Detective Joseph Rondini at $268,085, after 15 years of service; Sgt. Pierangelo Corticelli, a 20-year veteran, with $262,241; Sgt. Richard Stook, after 21 years, at $244,267; and Sgt. Thomas Kelly, after 32 years on the job, with $243,997.
The town does not consider that extra work to be part of their salaries because it is not paid through the GPD budget for salaries and overtime.
There are two types of extraduty work, according to department officials. The first, known as the “blue payroll,” consists of service to other town departments, often Public Works, and usually entails such duties as directing traffic at road construction projects. The second type, known as a “side job,” serves a utility or private entity that hires officers for security or for assistance at projects, including construction, line work or tree removal.
Officers who want blue payroll jobs sign up on an availability list maintained by the desk sergeant. These are billed internally to whichever town department hires the officer. For side jobs, a list of available work is maintained for officers to pick and choose. The company or person in charge of the job gets a bill from the town for the officer’s service. In both cases, the pay is added to the officer’s paycheck.
There is no requirement, as there is in Stamford, that Greenwich Police officers be hired for these jobs. The rates for side jobs vary from $65 to $130 an hour.
Chief of Police James Heavey comes in at No. 43 on the list, earning $179,031, below more than 25 of the officers under his command if the side work is taken into account. Heavey falls to No. 55 on the list if officer side work is taken into account. Deputy Police Chief Mark Marino is at No. 97 on the list with $155,511. None of the captains in the GPD make the Top 100.
Fire Chief Peter Siecienski comes in at No. 47 on the list of Top 100 salaried town employees, or No. 77 if the list includes side work, with $171,247. Deputy Fire Chief Thomas Nixon is at No. 12 with $193,667. And Deputy Fire Chief Thomas Zack is at No. 14 with a salary of $192,101. The deputy salaries include overtime and stipends along with other factors that are not part of the chief’s pay. The deputy chiefs have a base pay of $120,166 annually.
The highest-paid town department head is Siebert. She has been with the town for 15 years and is earning $199,817, which put her at No. 7 on the list without taking police side work into account. If side work is considered, she slips down to No. 27. The next highest department head is Alan Barry, the eight-year commissioner of the town’s Department of Human Services. His $174,266 comes in at No. 34, falling to No. 62 if police side work is taken into account.
In the school district, Glenville School Principal Marc DA’ mico, who has 16 years of experience in the town, is the highest ranked school leader. He comes in at No. 16 with a salary of $190,985. At the town’s middle schools, Western Principal Gordon Beinstein and Central Principal Thomas Healy each earn $182,850. Eastern Principal Jason Goldstein is paid $172,383. Goldstein is serving in an interim capacity this fiscal year but was recently named the full-time head of the school.
Most of the elementary school principals, who are represented by the Greenwich Organization of School Administrators, earn the same salary of $174,096. DA’ mico and Teresa Ricci from the International School at Dundee are the exceptions due to their seniority. Ricci earns $175,295, and has been a town employee for 23 years, with 15 as ISD’s principal.
In total, the town is budgeted to spend $235,145,000 on salaries for the 2018-19 fiscal year. For the budget year of 2019-20, which was approved last Monday, that goes up to $237,864,000.
In fiscal year 2014-15, town salaries totaled $212,231,000. In 2015-16, that amount increased to $221,260,000, then to $226,744,000 in 2016-17 and to $231,082,000 in 2017-18.
A decade ago, the highestpaid town employee in 2008-09 was then-Superintendent of Schools Betty Sternberg, who earned $287,288. She was followed by then-Deputy Superintendent Kathleen Greider at $196,470, former Greenwich Library Director Mario Gonzalez at $180,880, William Kowalewski, who headed The Nathaniel Witherell, at $169,283, and Alan Capasso, who was GHS Headmaster, at $168,345.
First Selectman Peter Tesei said salaries are expected to go up — they are largely driven by labor agreements that include mandated wage increases for union members. But Tesei noted that side work and overtime pay for public safety and other town employees is not counted toward their pensions, unlike state workers.
Tesei is not on the Top 100 list. As an elected official, his salary is set every two years during the budget process, unlike town employee salaries, which are typically set by union contracts. The first selectman’s salary, which is for a full-time position, is currently set at $144,480 a year. The two town selectmen, who are part time, are each paid $14,484 yearly.
The town clerk and tax collector, who are also elected, each make $104,002 a year.
Salaries became an issue at the RTM budget approval sessions earlier this month. A motion was successfully made to reduce a budgeted raise, from 2.5 percent to 2 percent, for workers known as management confidential employees. That covers 55 town employees who are typically in high-ranking managerial positions, including Branyan and Mynarski, and resulted in an across-theboard budget reduction of $38,567.
Members of the RTM’s Budget Overview Committee and Finance Committee argued the reduction kept the salary increases for those 55 employees within the rate of inflation and in line with the rasises for unionized employees.
“This is a really strong message to send to the various unions we’re negotiating with that we’re not unduly favoring management over employees,” Finance Committee Chair Rob Perelli-Minetti said.
Tesei, however, objected and said it sent a negative message to the employees who put in long hours and do excellent work. He said the cuts would have consequences.
“You’re saying, ‘You know what folks, you’re not worth cumulatively $38,000,’” Tesei said.
Town employees are represented by several different labor unions. The Police Department is represented by the Silver Shield Association, which covers all positions up to captain. The Greenwich Fire Department is represented by the Greenwich Professional Firefighters Local 1042.
For the Board of Education, the Greenwich Education Association represents the public school teachers; paraprofessionals are covered by LIUNA Local 136, which also represents town and school board employees in professional and supervisory roles. Town and Board of Education clerical and administrative employees are represented by the Greenwich Municipal Employees Association.
With the exception of the GPD, no rank-and-file members of town departments cracked the Top 100 in town salaries.