Okay, strap in, grab a cup of joe, or if you need it a cocktail, to review the list of top 100 wage earners for 2015 once again dominated by police officers whose pay was padded by overtime, some of them retirement payout and vacation and comp days. Some of the police overtime is also a result of a short-staffed department. Bill Finch, the city’s 52nd chief executive, shows up fittingly at number 52 on the list at $164,118.75, which includes his authorized retroactive pay raise and accumulated vacation time when he left office.
Andy Nunn, Finch’s chief administrative officer no longer on the payroll, follows Finch on the list. OIB requested the list from the city through a Freedom of Information request. The list that follows includes city employee name, title and pay received for 2015. The top nine cracked $200k. Marlene Siegel, listed 5th, is chief financial officer for the Board of Education.
The salary range of the police chief is $129,778 to $142,576. These are not precise numbers but deputy chiefs are close to $110,000 base pay, captain more than $90k, lieutenant more than $80k, sergeant more than 70k etc. Make friends with these people!
CITY and BOE TOP 100 EARNERS
Name, Title, Union, Gross Earnings
1 CUETO, JOHN POLICE LIEUTENANT P 285,352.94
2 HILL, DERWIN POLICE DETECTIVE P 256,215.15
3 DONALDSON, RICHARD POLICE DETECTIVE P 236,445.65
4 HONIS, JAMES POLICE DEPUTY CHIEF P 223,946.38
5 SIEGEL, MARLENE CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER Z 223,582.49
6 PEREZ, ARMANDO POLICE CAPTAIN P 220,651.64
7 VERRILLO, VINCENT POLICE SERGEANT P 207,913.97
8 EVANS, JOHN POLICE SERGEANT P 204,080.02
9 BLACKWELL, LONNIE POLICE LIEUTENANT P 201,681.77
10 AMATO, JASON POLICE SERGEANT P 199,093.32
11 RABINOWITZ, FRANCES SUPERINTENDENT M 198,968.42
12 PEREIRA, ILIDIO POLICE OFFICER P 195,002.00
13 LLANOS, SANTIAGO POLICE SERGEANT P 191,553.85
14 LAMAINE, CHRISTOPHER POLICE LIEUTENANT P 191,391.72
15 GEARING, ROBERT POLICE CAPTAIN P 190,038.88
16 TEIXEIRA, HEITOR POLICE DETECTIVE P 188,615.15
17 FARONI, DANIEL POLICE OFFICER P 187,823.98
18 BLACKWELL, MARK POLICE OFFICER P 187,038.41
19 REILLY, WILLIAM POLICE DETECTIVE P 186,218.17
20 GILLERAN, KEVIN POLICE LIEUTENANT P 183,275.88
21 ANDREWS, JOHN POLICE SERGEANT P 182,832.46
22 KEITT, GLENN POLICE OFFICER P 182,181.73
23 GARCIA, REBECA POLICE LIEUTENANT P 181,620.11
24 SAPIRO, ROBERT POLICE CAPTAIN P 179,789.40
25 STOLZE, DOUGLAS POLICE CAPTAIN P 178,667.84
26 FITZGERALD, BRIAN POLICE LIEUTENANT P 177,400.71
27 EVANS, ROBERT POLICE CAPTAIN P 176,771.96
28 MARTINEZ, DENNIS POLICE DETECTIVE P 176,487.12
29 CARROLL, CHARLES DIR PARKS & RECREATION U 176,142.23
30 PORTER, RODERICK POLICE CAPTAIN P 176,013.00
31 MCCARTHY, BRIAN POLICE CAPTAIN P 175,579.01
32 LEONZI, CARL POLICE SERGEANT P 175,382.30
33 ARMENO, ANTHONY POLICE DEPUTY CHIEF P 175,202.13
34 JOHNSON, CHARLES POLICE SERGEANT P 175,063.63
35 LOUGAL, STEVEN POLICE LIEUTENANT P 174,790.85
36 CALVAO, ARTUR POLICE DETECTIVE P 174,478.50
37 BRADLEY-WEBB, TJUANA POLICE SERGEANT P 174,220.74
38 CORREA, EDDIE POLICE SERGEANT P 173,433.15
39 HOBEN, TODD POLICE DETECTIVE P 173,159.74
40 STERN, HUGO POLICE OFFICER P 171,532.18
41 RIEHL, DAVID POLICE OFFICER P 171,263.15
42 CINTRON, JORGE POLICE DETECTIVE P 171,162.22
43 COTTO, MANUEL POLICE LIEUTENANT P 170,628.55
44 CORTELLO, LOUIS POLICE SERGEANT P 168,976.56
45 RADZIMIRSKI, ADAM POLICE DEPUTY CHIEF P 167,509.43
46 SMITH, CHRISTOPHER POLICE OFFICER P 167,449.52
47 GRECH, PAUL POLICE LIEUTENANT P 166,569.61
48 HAILEY, ESTHER POLICE OFFICER P 166,227.44
49 PRIBESH, JOHN POLICE DETECTIVE P 166,213.81
50 COTTO, WALBERTO POLICE DETECTIVE P 166,088.14
51 ALTERIO, LEONARD POLICE OFFICER P 165,028.01
52 FINCH, WILLIAM MAYOR E 164,118.75
53 NUNN, ANDREW CHIEF ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICER B 163,495.43
54 COLLAZO, ANGELO POLICE SERGEANT P 162,981.52
55 CARROLL, TERESA ASST. SUPERINTENDENT M 162,154.16
56 LUNA, JOSE POLICE OFFICER P 162,006.62
57 BORRICO, JAMES POLICE DETECTIVE P 161,747.18
58 MULFORD, MICHAEL ASST. SUPERINTENDENT M 161,698.84
59 REID, ROGER POLICE OFFICER P 161,316.39
60 GRICE, JEFFREY POLICE LIEUTENANT P 161,033.29
61 SEPULVEDA, JOSE POLICE OFFICER P 160,946.25
62 MENDEZ, DANIEL POLICE OFFICER P 160,212.27
63 CURET, ADA POLICE DETECTIVE P 159,712.80
64 OSBORNE, LAWRENCE DIRECTOR LABOR RELATIONS B 159,033.49
65 CSECH, DAMIEN POLICE OFFICER P 158,641.59
66 GARCIA, JORGE DIR PUBLIC FACILITIES U 158,531.72
67 GOLDING, EDWARD POLICE SERGEANT P 158,498.43
68 CUMMINGS, JOHN POLICE LIEUTENANT P 158,330.88
69 SHERWOOD, THOMAS DIRECTOR OPM B 157,570.73
70 ROONEY, BRIAN FIRE CHIEF A 157,395.18
71 GALE, JOHN POLICE SERGEANT P 157,360.54
72 GAUDETT, JOSEPH CHIEF OF POLICE A 157,304.49
73 WALKER, EVERTON POLICE OFFICER P 157,280.57
74 RIVERA, ANGEL POLICE OFFICER P 156,864.94
75 TESTANI, MICHAEL DIR ADULT EDUCATION I 156,095.18
76 HEANUE, MARTIN POLICE DETECTIVE P 156,092.62
77 DIEZ, JULIO POLICE OFFICER P 155,801.77
78 BRYANT, KEITH POLICE DETECTIVE P 155,797.28
79 MANNING, MILDRED POLICE OFFICER P 155,239.16
80 GARCIA, PEDRO POLICE OFFICER P 154,849.55
81 JAEGER, KATHLEEN EXEC DIR HUMAN RESOURCES Z 154,610.99
82 LAVIN, GERALD POLICE OFFICER P 154,130.76
83 ROSADO, ORLANDO POLICE OFFICER P 153,949.55
84 PARKS, TRESHA POLICE OFFICER P 153,945.84
85 SCHNEIDER, ERIC POLICE SERGEANT P 153,931.49
86 GOMEZ, DANIEL POLICE OFFICER P 153,615.86
87 GAIE, JEAN POLICE OFFICER P 153,516.12
88 ACEVEDO, JOSE POLICE OFFICER P 153,384.30
89 TALAVERA, ANDRES POLICE OFFICER P 153,201.94
90 LOSCHIAVO, CARMEN POLICE OFFICER P 153,124.79
91 O’BRIEN, DANIEL POLICE OFFICER P 152,235.78
92 GUTIERREZ, LUIS POLICE OFFICER P 151,999.30
93 SOARES, DIANA HIGH SCHOOL PRINCIPAL I 151,947.78
94 RIVERA, EDWARD POLICE SERGEANT P 151,363.85
95 HELLER, ADAM ITS DIRECTOR S 151,064.31
96 ALEXANDER, WAYNE ASST DIR ADULT EDUCATION I 151,043.96
97 KOORIS, DAVID DIRECTOR – OPED B 150,780.25
98 JOHNSON, MILTON POLICE SERGEANT P 150,715.33
99 LOSAK, JOHN POLICE SERGEANT P 150,571.07
100 DOWLING, SANFORD POLICE DETECTIVE P 150,001.73
Whoa!
Very nice.
Really? Nice? You see nothing wrong with paying outrageous taxes to fund a completely mismanaged police schedule? I for one get kind of ticked off when I see my tax dollars being utilized to pay the bloated salaries of employees (police and other) who have done zero to re-align the effed-up processes that maintain our stellar position as laughing stock of the country. And how many of these salaries are going out of the city to non-residents? A good bundle, I assure you. Come on down to Bridgeport from every corner of the state! The pay is fantastic and you don’t even need to live here or be qualified to do your job! All that’s required is you completely sell out to the Mayor! (Which is not a problem because hey, it’s not my city, who cares?) Please change what you can here, Mayor Ganim.
Zena Lu, Ron Mackey and I have been critical of Bridgeport hiring people outside this community for police and fire departments for years. Add another 300 from the fire dept and you can see millions of tax dollars leaving every day going to uplift our suburban communities.
It’s time we did what Hartford does, in order to get police and fire department jobs you have to be a Hartford resident. Now you don’t have to stay a Hartford resident, but you sure as hell have to start out as one. Hartford figured if you start out as a resident you might just stay a resident once you start to make these wonderful salaries, but if you start out as a non resident you’ll never move to Hartford with these wonderful salaries.
Donald, if they have to be residents when they get the job, then I say stay residents or LOSE the job. Every returning serviceman should be contacted and scouted as is done in sports. Also if a person is willing to sign an affidavit attesting they would move into Bridgeport before being sworn in and not be sworn in until that stipulation is addressed.
They don’t have to stay in the city. Their contract allows them to move outside the city.
BUT THEY SHOULD.
Why?
BECAUSE WHEN YOU TAKE THE JOB OF A POLICEMAN OR FIREMAN IT SHOULD BE AKIN TO JOINING THE MILITARY AND WITH THAT OATH SHOULD COME AN OVERWHELMING CONCERN FOR THE BETTERMENT OF THE MUNICIPALITY THEY WORK IN.
HECTOR, WHEN DID YOU BECOME GOD?
How will Ganim change this when it was the Bridgeport Police Union supportedhim, AND supported him in ways I think were unethical? In other words, Ganim owes The Police Union, BIG TIME. And was it not surprising there seemed to be an uptick in crime in the summer, just as the mayoral campaign began? Where were the police in the summer? Taking it a little bit easy? And that is also why I have been critical of the Flatto budget deficit. REALLY NEEDED TO pay that $10 million that was due the police.
Frank,
The facts are that Tom Sherwood, ‘past masterbudgeter,’ projected too much in revenue accounts and too little in expense accounts, including accounts that were not funded by the State of CT in 2015 or 2016, and then was able to float the whole thing past our City Council. He budgeted the State of CT MERF funds for fire but left out the scheduled payments “for 26 years” due for Police. How do you see that as a favor to the Police? Or a fault of Flatto? More secrecy and confusion that is being uncovered right now, and that is building real problems for anyone who is serious about honest and balanced financials going forward.
The December monthly financial report is out and will face B&A on February 8. The external audit will also be out within a week or so, I am told. The latter document especially will begin to show the fiscal damage left by the Finch administration, more serious and selfish than a dead squirrel or two. The trough the past administration was feeding from will likely empty the last of our City Fund Balance, a far cry from where we sat with $55 Million when the Financial Review Board closed down during Ganim’s first term. Will the real work to rebuild be done? Time will tell.
Frank, how can a man who reasonably comments on the blog come up with conspiracy theory? In case you lost sight of the message you were attempting to convey, those were people, human beings, being killed and maimed during the summer. Are you suggesting the police looked the other way, or didn’t bother to investigate? The analogy you’re making with the loss of life and Flatto’s numbers is unconscionable.
Lisa, I am sorry you feel offended at the implications I offered. Without a doubt any and all loss of life is tragic. Indeed, blood was spilled on the streets of Bridgeport this past summer. This is how I look at it. When anyone analyzes any situation, one needs to look and consider all plausible scenarios. What was going on this summer? On July 2, the Bridgeport Police Union supported Joe Ganim. Bill Finch was ONCE AGAIN in the crosshairs of the Bridgeport Police Union. The BPU had supported Chris Caruso over Finch in 2007 and Mary-Jane Foster in 2011. On July 21, Finch barely received the support of the DTC (49 Finch-41 Ganim and DTC Chairman Mario Testa maintained a thinly disguised “Neutral” position. It was increasingly obvious the incumbent Finch was in trouble. He had not done a good job maintaining relations with the two largest ethnic groups in Bridgeport; the Latino and African American groups. Long gone are the days when the Italians and Irish dominated Bridgeport politics. After the shootings in Trumbull Gardens, I will quote JOE GANIM. “Additionally, in the wake of the tragic shootings in Trumbull Gardens, Mayor Finch’s failure to take immediate steps to increase police presence shows a failure of leadership, if not a cavalier disregard for the safety of Trumbull Garden residents. By restoring Mayor Finch’s cuts in our police department, expanding community policing, establishing new neighborhood command posts, and building greater cooperation between the police and communities throughout our city, we will build a better and safer Bridgeport for all our citizens.” A perception began to build that crime and murder were rising despite statistics ACTUALLY saying crime had been going down the last several years. As the summer progressed and we got closer to the Dem Primary, Ganim would appear at the scene of each shooting and crime. Usually referred to as an ambulance chaser. The citizens, primarily Latino and black, felt unsafe and ignored by the then-current mayor. If you look at the geographic mapping of where these crimes were committed, you would see they were in a relatively small section of Bridgeport. One would think after the Trumbull Gardens incident, there would be a severe crackdowm by the police. In fact, Ganim’s own headquarters on Stratford Avenue was riddled by bullets. SO I WILL SAY any analysis of what happened this summer has to consider the plausibility of some type of BLUE WALL strategy. I HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO EVIDENCE OF THAT. I am only working on what police departments and prosecutors use; circumstantial evidence. Some my say I have a vivid imagination. However, the Bridgeport Police Union achieved their long-sought-after objective; the defeat of Bill Finch. As this list shows, a LOT of money was involved. The re-arrangement of those in power, and some getting fired, continues to this day.
To be more succinct about all this. SOMETHING STINKS ABOUT ALL THIS.
It seems it was the right move to get rid of Nardozzi who was in charge of police overtime.
Here is what should be done. Fire everyone from Captain UP and hire from the outside. Change the rules so this can be done. Change the rules and get the captains on up off the OT list. Perez made $220K this year, if he does it twice more he can retire at approx $155,000 per year instead of about $60K. $90,000 difference, not bad. Don’t forget this includes outside OT like looking in a construction site. Somebody kiss me, I have been screwed.
Lennie, I would be interested in seeing the next hundred highest. Any chance you can post that too?
So what are we going to do about this, fellow Bridgeporters? Oh, we’re going to elect the guy who’s in bed with the Police Union. Cool. Good move.
It is amazing how problems that were identified 25 years ago still persist. There is institutional inefficiency perpetuated by an outmoded command structure and a union contract and work culture that virtually guarantees overtime.
Remember the old adage ‘we will solve no crime unless it’s on overtime’? Still alive and well.
Andy makes an important point. The MERF pension system was not designed to accommodate such disparities between base pay and total compensation by Bridgeport police officers.
Let’s hope Wilbur Chapman can get a handle on this issue.
Isn’t Tom White the MBA who’s challenging the city of Bridgeport while living on the dole?
www .twitter.com/door24
I guess it takes a list like this for the public to react and realize the Bridgeport train is off the track. Decades of rules, regulations and law around employment provide us with a Civil Service system (to protect City workers), union representation (to protect the contracts controlling pay, working conditions and benefits of City workers) and human resources administration that also weighs in on these issues.
What we do not have is anyone who is speaking for “taxpayer issues.” Our most recent election cycle has promised some changes. Shouldn’t we know the priorities of G2? How will they choose to bring us back to a more fair and just system? The Police external overtime game can be restructured as Andy Fardy and others have indicated. It will take time. Potential changes should be accompanied by a financial sheet for taxpayers indicating expected results.
Having too much to do (both external and internal duties) and too few with retirement attrition to perform in a normal shift cycle has given us a local example of the result. Was it managed well for the past several years? How would we have an opinion when data like this was not available publicly? What is the result? Much greater continuing expense for City pension payments for a few while 100 jobs of various kinds are not filled in the present? The rich and the rest of us?
Perhaps we will hear about Mayor Ganim’s plan for this soon. Time will tell.
This is what I have been talking about.
First, several people on the list over $200K have retired and received payouts from the city for owed time on the books. Second, if you want a real list then do like Stamford and show me the overtime paid by taxpayers and overtime paid by outside contractors that I don’t pay. Third, the union had a contract settlement and got three years retro pay owed so based on some of these salaries and past Finch payouts average would be $20 thousand gross again inflating the total for the year. That being said check the contract on line, see salaries then add benefits like selling time like vacation and holidays that happen twice a year that equals depending on rank approximately another $10 grand. So show me the outside and inside overtime generated I won’t take it away from a guy/gal who stands over a hole at the expense of their family or health, that’s on them, I wouldn’t. Then show me what they earned inside overtime paid by city, if it’s more than ten percent which is average in accounting for a budget then you have a problem.
Four Flats, your comments here and throughout this thread prove beyond a shadow of a doubt SOMEONE IN THE CITY OF BRIDGEPORT needs to regain control of the Bridgeport Police Department/Union. It looks like they are their own independent entity, they make their own rules, answer to no one and anyone who questions WTF is going on in the BPT Police department/Union are targeted to lose their job, if indeed they are an elected official.
All that fucking money going out of the community. If the detectives listed above weren’t hogging the OT then maybe, just maybe the city could afford to hire more police officers.
The city can’t get rid of Gaudett so there’s another half million dollars being pissed away. Bill Finch and his cronies received retroactive pay raises because no one thought to watch what he was doing after Ganim won the election. And the severance package given to Tom McCarthy? What in fucking hell?! The city is just leaking money.
Lennie, does this include “outside” overtime that isn’t paid for by the City?
Good question, Phil. Makes sense but not cents with the the deal for police and fire MERF deal.
Phil, yes it does and also outside OT counts towards their pensions.
Payouts for time banked for service nor longevity payouts count towards pension so show me who retired what the payout was commensurate to base salary and then show me outside contractor pay as compared to inside and if they earned ten percent of base pay in inside overtime then they are bloated.
Imagine if these City employees lived right here in Bridgeport. Most of them reside someplace else and pay taxes and shop someplace else instead of Bridgeport. If they only lived in Bridgeport.
Ron, better yet imagine if we had the shops to accommodate them, at least we know there are some people out there who don’t have to take out a second mortgage to buy some gloves at Bass Pro.
Hector, Ron and Don,
Maybe the city can start with giving preferential status in assigning Outside OT to Bridgeport residents.
Then do the same for regularly scheduled OT, i.e. OT that is filled on shifts due to lower manpower.
What do you say, guys? A good place to start?
Are you fucking people all nuts? There is such a thing as a contract. You don’t just rip that up and start over. What planet are you from?
CONTRACTS ARE PAPER AND CAN BE DISSOLVED UNDER JUST CAUSE.
Hector, you have no idea what you are talking about. Try to cancel this contract.
I AGREE WITH YOU, BOB.
What does living in Bridgeport have to do with any of this argument? Show me any profession that has residency. You people are ridiculous and when you had residency you beat it every chance you could get by influencing the vote every two years for mayor. Like today, give me what I want and we will get you elected. The city was not stupid letting people leave when the state said they could, it gets them politically out. What real influence do these people have in politics, they don’t live here, they don’t vote so they hold a sign. Really. you are kidding me.
Ron, so true!
Most of them brown-bag there too, I’ll bet.
OUTRAGEOUS. This is why I am especially suspicious of the $10 million extra FLATTO deficit. $10 million out of the $20 million belongs to the members of the Police Dept. Understaffing is used as an excuse for the crime AND especially in the summer just as we were going into the mayoral election AND guess who supported Ganim. THE BRIDGEPORT POLICE UNION. And why would the Bridgeport Police Union want extra officer?s It would be killing the goose that lays the golden egg. A properly staffed Police Dept would mean NO OVERTIME and A LOT of police officers would take a HUGE PAY CUT. When the Flatto deficit was announced, all the attention was ON the “FINCH AT THE LAST MINUTE MONEY GRAB.” That part of the deficit was $2.4 million and probably most of it went to the Union supervisors. The FINCH SMOKESCREEN was meant to hide the BIG PROBLEM–THE BRIDGEPORT POLICE.
While staffing shortages are one the causes of high overtime cost,. they are far from the only cause. Here are just a couple more.
Personnel Management
Are the existing personnel assigned as productively as they could be? For example, I have been told the current patrol posts–which determine where patrol officers are assigned–dates back to the era, long ago, when Father Panik Village was a high-crime area. As a result too many officers are assigned to some areas while other higher-crime areas are understaffed and overtime has to be used to provide needed coverage.
Who is Minding the Store?
More than a third of the highest-paid employees are police supervisors. Indeed, one supervisor earned more than $100,000 MORE than the Chief of Police. Does anyone seriously expect them to crack down on a system they benefit from?
Any way to find out how much each would be making without overtime so we can calculate the difference? Can someone clear something up for me? If a police officer does not use vacation time, or an employee or a political appointee, they are then allowed to opt to take that as pay instead? Please clarify. If so, here is what I see as an issue: vacation is important to let people rest, get perspective, spend quality time with family or friends or both, in short, mental health. A person who is not taking their vaca is not going to be a very healthy worker, won’t be clear of mind. And a police officer? With what they see and deal with, not to take that time but to sock it away in pay? What kind of mental state are these people in? If it is true they can opt out of vaca and take the pay (waiting on clarification), that shortcoming needs to go away in the form of if you don’t take your vaca, you lose your vaca, you don’t get to roll it over, and you don’t get to take the cash. Just one fraction of the multitude of what is wrong with the list.
Good questions, Rocco. The salary range of the police chief is $129,778 to $142,576. These are not precise numbers but deputy chiefs are close to $110,000 base, captain more than $90k, lieutenant more than $80k, sergeant more than $70k, etc.
Wow. Those are base #’s. Is there a cap without overtime? And vaca options? Are they going without vaca to take that as pay instead?
All contracts are on the city website.
I should have been a cop!
CUETO, JOHN POLICE LIEUTENANT P 285,352.94
This guy used to be the head of the mounted police and had some type of administrative responsibilities in HQ. I wouldn’t be surprised if this is all OT from the Mountie.
When I was on the council I always asked at budget time how much did the mounted patrol cost the city in OT. Sherwood always said they couldn’t report OT like that.
Maybe this is why I never got a straight answer.
He retired, ass. With over 25-plus years of service and owed time so do the math. When on the council did you properly look into this, I doubt it. How about if you bank time allowed then you cash it out at the rate it’s earned? In this city you cash out at your final rate so John Marshall Lee how about this? Forty years on the job save all your holidays they are earned at 40 years ago at say a value of $150 a day over 40 years how many raises are passed? This adds to the value of all the days and if they got promoted each rank is 12.5 percent additional between every rank so over 40 years you get 2 percent say only half that increases 40 percent get promoted add 12.5 get promoted again add 12.5 so retire at rank like lieutenant and you can make in a 25-year career on average 12.5 in raises three promotions another 25 percent and when you retire the day you earned 25 years ago is paid at TODAYS RATE with interest, hellooo???
I remember that, Bubba.
Whoa, Cowboy,
64 OSBORNE, LAWRENCE DIRECTOR LABOR RELATIONS B 159,033.49
Larry Osborne $159K. Please someone, try to defend this one.
I am not sure what his educational credentials are but he is not an attorney.
He runs an office of a half a dozen (give or take) political appointees. What a waste of taxpayers’ dollars.
Honestly, I see nothing wrong if a cop lives somewhere else. There have been plenty of cops who were born and raised in Bridgeport and once they became a cop and made money they moved out. I see nothing wrong with that at all. If I’m making $60 to $70k now a year there is no way in hell I would live in Bpt with the high taxes, bad schools and the list continues. Not even our own Lennie lives in Bridgeport. As much as I love Bridgeport I have to say it is not a desirable place to live.
if THAT IS HOW YOU FEEL DONJ, THEN YOU SHOULD NEVER EVER HAVE A MUNICIPAL JOB. ESP POLICE OR FIREMEN SHOULD ALWAYS LIVE IN THEIR MUNICIPALITY JUST AS THOSE ELECTED.
Amen brother, I agree. I was taught to work for what you wanted and better yourself. Education and opportunity allowed me to force myself to succeed and I feel better my existence.
We shouldn’t be surprised. We have known for many months about the BPD manpower crisis and the need for OT to keep patrol and supervisory staffing near necessary levels. When an urban center of Bridgeport’s public-safety description is far below authorized strength and losing officers at an unusually high rate due to unaddressed issues, the only public-safety option is OT.
The unprecedented BPD OT numbers are directly traceable to the years of ineffectual policies maintained by the previous City Hall administration that led to a precipitous depletion of the ranks of the BPD. It will take many months to create a manageable OT situation in the BPD. It will have to involve a multifaceted new hiring initiative that will bring street officer and supervisory level BPD numbers up to authorized levels in the context of bringing BPD pay/compensation packages up to regionally competitive levels.
The Ganim Administration is making good on its promise to provide the leadership, police resources, and necessary hiring/retention initiatives required to revitalize BPD and meet Bridgeport’s public safety needs.
As a member of the Ganim Administration public-safety transition committee, I can attest to the efforts being made to re-establish the sound footing of BPD/Bridgeport public safety.
That being said; there are obviously areas of administration/policy/budgeting the new administration needs to revamp as it addresses the number-one priority of assuring public safety.
ONE PROBLEM. The Bridgeport Police Union owns Ganim, lock, stock and barrel.
Let’s make sure we understand this “outside overtime” for the Bridgeport Police Department, the outside overtime is NOT being paid by the City’s taxpayers, it’s being paid whatever utility company or vendor who request their service, remember I’m only talking about outside overtime and not staffing overtime. Many towns and cities do not hire police officers for these type of services like for the utility companies, instead these companies hired their own civilians to perform these duties.
Bridgeport does not pay the cops for outside OT in one sense but in another they do. The contractors are behind in their payments to the city so guess who is paying the cops. You are.
Contractors put up bonds and are not behind or they do not get cops for work. Check the arena and the rest of the rents missing in the monthly checks.
If that’s true then the contractors should be shut down before they start the job. Maybe the city should be paid first then, before the start of a project.
The question is whether the fee the city charges for the outside overtime covers all the cost of providing the service, especially when higher-paid supervisors are used. If not, the taxpayers are subsidizing the businesses that use the officers.
Phil, it does not cover the city’s cost to the state pension system, we pay that. It does not cover the increased pension cost brought on by this outside OT.
Remember, if the road work is being done as part of a city contract, like road repair, the city pays (taxpayers) for that contract. Hence, the taxpayers are still paying that OT.
Why should the cops have to live in the city when the mayor doesn’t?
I do not know the #1 Person on this list. Usually people at the top are popular with folks. Do you sense this is not true at this very public moment?
And I sense what Thomas Sherwood kept secret for many years telling folks he could not break out and supply data information was not only a lie, but a very reasonable form of self-protection. When the secrets became public, I guess he figured he would be long gone ( or maybe working for a quasi-City agency) but where is he now when the actual info gets revealed?
And the same goes for the “secret service” at City Hall, otherwise listed as Labor Relations. Actually they build relationships with certain individuals or groups and left the taxing and revenue raising issues to others, creating very poor relations, ultimately.
However, let’s look at what may have happened to create the 2015 payment year for the #1 payee, where base pay was $90,000-plus, and COMP TIME PAYOUT RETIREMENT was $76,000-plus, and HOLIDAY PAYOUT RETIREMENT exceeded $83,000. Those three items total about $250,000 so OVERTIME of any kind or other items only added $35,000 to the $285,000 reported sum. So if we only look at overtime (without breaking out internal and external quantities) or similar issues we may never begin to understand how all the “LABOR RELATIONS” contracts came to be.
And this type of seeming excess on the part of taxpayers probably needs prompt address by Mayor Ganim. If some voters remember him as a tough manager who surrounded himself with well-qualified managers and administrators, it is time for them to show themselves and provide the honest strength so long absent from City Hall. OPEN, ACCOUNTABLE and TRANSPARENT values need to be practiced no doubt because we are seeing what silence and secrecy have brought us in terms of PUBLIC SERVICE. Time will tell.
*** There’s nothing that can be done because it’s in Black & White (contract). If they were to put a clause in the contract that you can’t stay on the force if you don’t pass your P/T test, medical checkup and job description test after 25 years on the force, let’s say starting in the year 2021 and so on for new rookie classes, etc. Also a 30-year max retirement limit to open it up on the other end for new cops and promotions! The city’s got to wake up and make some cuts somewhere or you’ll have desk job cops staying until at least 50 years on the job! ***
Mojo, that is not true. The ordinance Ganim put in many years ago can be rescinded and be no longer valid.
This list is prima facia evidence of gross abuse of overtime in the Police Department. We need more management of OT and should also take steps to eliminate the inclusion of overtime pay for pension calculation purposes. Including OT close to retirement is an abuse of taxpayers. We need to eliminate “double dipping” too.
AMEN!!!!!!!!!
Can someone translate what Mr. Kohut just said?
I think he was just paraphrasing JML.
Whoa! So this means you all want Bridgeport to stop getting the $200 million-plus every year it’s been getting from outside sources?
What is that supposed to mean? Bridgeport getting $200 million a year from outside sources to pay police overtime? No. They get it to run the schools and then try to backdoor it to the general fund. Quit telling lies, JMart.
Bridgeport is not getting this money, the police working the OT are getting this money.
Since the police union was backing Ganim and not Finch does that mean they feel this obscene level of OT was insufficient?
Lies, Bob? So Bridgeport funds its city and educational budgets 100%, nothing coming in from the State or Feds?
The city of Bridgeport receives hundreds of millions of dollars annually from the state and feds and you don’t want to give back a few million to the people who keep you safe and protect you.
How does this compare to New Haven, Stamford, Hartford?
The top 10 highest-earning employees in 2014 for New York City averaged: $300,355
Source: www .silive.com/specialreports/index.ssf/2015/01/nearly_half_of_nycs_10_highest.html
Bridgeport, by comparison (based on numbers presented here): $225,896 … about 75% of NYC.
Not an oranges-to-oranges comparison, obviously.
Better would be to compare top-ten police earnings for Bridgeport, New Haven and Hartford, since those cities, financially, are wards of the state.
Maybe lies was not the proper term. Distorting the truth. Does that make you feel more righteous?
Maybe there are a half-dozen BOE employees on the list of which the comment about $200 million may have some relevance. Otherwise your comment seems to attack the city and not the city government for some unknown reason.
Are you some suburbanite praying for the city to fail?
Hey Four Flats,
Isn’t your anger misdirected? Attacking the bloggers instead of City Hall where you thought you had a friend in Joe Ganim?
All you said here and more could have been included in the list the city put together but chose not to.
Is City Hall making the BPD the bad guys in this fight? Looks that way to me.
Maybe when Flatto saw these numbers he began to realize it would be easy to target the boys in blue.
Take your anger to the source and not out on the public.
Bob Walsh,
I don’t attack the present administration because though they are a factor it was those who wrote these perks into contracts before I was even born going back to Mandanici who have caused this situation. Overtime in this department looking at other similar departments is bloated. A set number close to $7 million where New Haven, Hartford, Providence, Springfield MA stay within $2 to 3 million. Now add contractual issues, payouts, perks and mandated police functions the city doesn’t get compensated for like every parade, event on McLevy, Seaside Park and you can see how this is possible. So make people pay the bills and hold people accountable and hold the dept to 10 percent of salary in overtime not 80 to 90 percent in overtime. Either inside or outside, someone pays the bills.
No Bob, I don’t want BPT to fail, but you need outside help whether you like it or not.
How does the Bridgeport Teachers Union not see this list and go WTF!!?? 80% of this list is cops. Not a single Bridgeport teacher or principal made this list, yet 80 or so cops did? Bridgeport teachers work just as hard and under terrible conditions. Too bad for them there is no such thing as overtime in their jobs. They do work overtime but have to do it for free. Absolutely disgraceful. If I were a dues-paying teacher I’d be calling my union leadership right about now. WTF!!??
Teachers only work 185 days a year. It is a part-time job. They can make OT working summer or night school. If you extended their pay out to the 240 days a normal worker works, you would see a lot of them on the list.
If a cop makes OT working a BOE basketball game, that would be an outside source but still paid by taxpayers. When a road repair contractor is hired to fix a road and that contractor hires a cop, that cost is built in to the contract and paid by taxpayers. An outside source that is still paid by taxpayers.
Let these contractors hire orange vests to direct traffic. If the BOE needs five security guards and two cops at a sports game, maybe it is too dangerous to have these games. Cancel them. Let each event and their insurance company decide if they need a cop or not.
There shouldn’t be any question of Bridgeport’s entitlement to state funding. It isn’t largess, it is underpayment for the captive Bridgeport labor pool that keeps Fairfield county and the rest of the state running, and it is also due compensation for the cost/effects of siting the regional social/health/government/sanitary/energy–et al.–services in Bridgeport. We are owed every penny of what we get from the state and feds and much, much more. We settle for scraps and abuse. That is perhaps our biggest problem.
Jeff, BPT’s population is only 150K. Subtract the 20K school kids and younger, the retired, the non-working benefit crowd, the unemployed, BPTers who have good jobs and the BPT workers who work in BPT, how many workers would you have left for the rest of Fairfield county? It would hardly represent a majority of the Fairfield county work force. Just a small fraction. Even then, I doubt many travel farther than a town or two for a minimum-wage job. You see what I am getting at. It makes no sense.
*** This is a big problem that’s costing the city and taxpayers too much money year after year! ***
Big police OT earnings are par for the course in just about any sizable city in the US. Bridgeport is extra large this year because of the understaffing problem, which is related to the dysfunction of a city that has been deliberately red-lined and kept dysfunctional in order to keep us in a condition that allows the Fairfield county status quo to be maintained.
Bridgeport has been deliberately red-lined? Bridgeport has been given hundreds of millions year in and year out from the State and Feds to keep it in the black, and then some, so all the corrupt piglets can milk from the trough.
With what is currently being discovered and revealed by Ken Flatto and Nestor Nkwo regarding budgeting and other “past practices” of the City, my question has come to be: Have we been truly in the black during the Finch years at any time? How much unwrapping will we need or do we have time for before the understanding we are truly fiscally broken takes hold? And then how will we look at the leadership that has delivered us there? And what does the all-knowing DTC have to say about it? Time will tell.
JML, when has the DTC ever said anything about the City’s finances? That’s not their job, that John, is for those who are elected.
Ron, after all these years I think you have finally made it clear. The only job the DTC (or, in other towns and cities, the RTC) has is to select people to run who will “follow the leader.” Don’t get people who understand anything about that which they will called to be voting upon. Certainly avoid those who have some education or special knowledge that might serve the people of your district well. Choose someone in your family. Nominate someone who is fun at a party and friendly to all. Perhaps you would support someone who has family members working for the City. Now if the DTC has no sense that the City Council members, for instance, hold a fiduciary position, that they are public service stewards for their family, not their party, family or self, then how can those elected understand what their job really is? And your answer, Ron? Time will tell.
This is not just accounting. This is just as much POLITICS as it is accounting and proper fiduciary responsibilities. ALL this has been going on for quite a while. I have done a “little” research and the question of underfunding Pensions goes even back to Ganim 1. before Ganim 1, everything goes under the radar because we start getting involved with the State Financial Oversight, Moran’s bankruptcy attempt and all tracks go cold.
DISCOVERED??? Nothing is new.
Ron, you really need to start understanding the procedure. You are right, it’s not the DTC to comment on finances in the city. Ron, it’s their fucking job to select candidates who are intelligent, involved and know how the city works. These idiots could not run a whorehouse by hand. Here are a few examples. John Olson, Evette Brantley and the list goes on and on. You see Ron, it’s EVERYONE’S job to be involved in the city and its operation.
Andy, you know I understand the rules and on this issue and I’m not saying anything really different from what you are saying except you gave two examples.
Look at these numbers, every year since 2010 or better.
Stamford Police a quarter of the size of the Bridgeport Police Department at any given strength or time.
www .thehour.com/stamford_times/news/stamford-police-top-list-of-city-s-highest-earners/article_f4693c8c-7bb0-11e2-b264-0019bb30f31a.html
This is every year This year this department got big retro checks based on overtime and salary earned for three years!!! With added buyouts the city can ill afford, this is what you get.
So JMart, you think Bridgeport is treated fairly by the region and the state (and federal government)? You measure this treatment by which yardstick? And by which numbers? And you live in the town of Trumbull? Shelton? Milford? And you think we, in Bridgeport, have the region’s jails, power plants, waste disposal-plants/recycling plants/incinerators, social service institutions, and most of the region’s low-income housing/other untaxable development because we have just love being poor, overtaxed, and because we have a natural affinity for having the poorest quality of life in the region? (And you also believe political money games and political patronage games are only played in Bridgeport?)
I’ll bet you’re a Rhodes Scholar from a liberal, religious family (not!!). (I would imagine you’re either a pseudo-Democrat voting for Hillary, or a dyed-in-the-wool Republican voting for Donald Trump along with the other anoxic lemmings longing for the return of the idyllic G. W. Bush years.)
Jeff, I agree with you on this one. Of course we can’t forget the drug rehab programs we have here of the drug those who don’t live here come to Bridgeport 24/7 to buy their drugs before they return to their town.
Jeff??? Westport has a sewage treatment plant just off the highway and a large mental health center on Longlots Road and a trash transfer plant. Greenwich Hospital covers a large area of a small town. Greenwich also has 761 units in 15 properties of low-income properties. The tax cost of these facilities to those towns is much higher than the cost of similar facilities to BPT. The trash to energy plant and the power plant in BPT are taxable entities. They are some of BPT’s largest taxpayers and best employers. These businesses, that pay a living (union) wage, are far better than something stupid like a casino or resort.
Shelton has the Shelton Landfill Gas Recovery power plant. South Norwalk has a gas turbine power plant.
Up until the mid ’70s BPT was a rich city. Your assertions are without merit or evidence.
I also have to question Jeff Kohut’s theory about Bridgeport being the dumping ground and cheap labor source of Fairfield County and/or the State of Connecticut.
What do you have to question? Take a look at I-95 southbound in the morning and then at nights at about 4PM look at I-95 northbound. Where do you think those cars were going? I will tell you because you don’t seem to know. In the morning the traffic is from Milford to Greenwich where these people work. At night it’s the reverse.
The casino was kept out of Bridgeport because the cheaper labor was needed in Stamford and the surrounding area.
Excuse me, I have been doing it for 30 years. Have YOU taken a look at the traffic coming down 25-8 in the morning and then getting back into 25-8 in the afternoon? Obviously not. So it looks like slave labor is coming down from the valley as well as from Bridgeport. Do you take Metro-North EVERY DAY as I do? First of all the real old Metro North aka New Haven line was for commuters/businesspeople going to work in Manhattan. According to your theory, Fairfield County was then the origin of slave labor for Manhattan. Then we did see the changeover to a large percentage of the commute going into Stamford. Today on Metro-North you are having heavy exchanges at EVERY STOP. Today, Metro- North should be viewed as essentially a subway like that served EVERY SINGLE STOP. Time to update your view of the transportation demographics. In addition, we have a reverse commute of workers coming in from Westchester and even Manhattan to work in Greenwich/Stamford and now even Norwalk. THIS is Fairfield County Mass Transit 2016.
And bringing up the casino is disingenuous. The failure of bringing in the casino was caused by completely different factors.
That about northern New Jersey? Those people are not continuing to Fairfield County. They stop in NY. The traffic pattern Andy speaks of gets continually worse (builds) as you move south. If anything it is light in the Bridgeport area and almost a standstill in Stamford.
Fairfield County has a population of 939,904. BPT is only 15% of that with only 38% of BPT’s population being between 20-44 years old. That would be 57K people. Traffic on Metro North and I-95 is a little more than 57K people. If the best job you can get is minimum wage, the blame for that falls squarely on you. Then if you are not able to advance past minimum wage, whose fault is that?
Then you have simple economics. It will cost to travel to Stamford or Greenwich every day for a minimum wage job. Trust me, there are plenty of minimum wage jobs in Bridgeport, Trumbull, Stratford and Fairfield to suit every resident of BPT. The idea people are traveling farther than one town for these jobs is ridiculous. It would cost $60/month to get to Stamford every day on the train. Plus, the bus to the train or parking at the station or gas and time to drive. All that for an $80 a day job? Why wouldn’t you just go work at the Milford Trumbull mall, Trumbull mall, dock shopping center, Bass Pro or a local bodega (under the table)?
So Jeff, if you and the people of Bridgeport know what the problem is, why does Bridgeport let it persist?
I do have to publicly commend the Bridgeport Police Department with some recent assistance. I’ve had a neighbor park their non-functioning car on the street adjacent to my property for OVER A YEAR. Last winter it was tagged with the familiar orange sticker. The owner came down and peeled it off and there it sat untouched. With our last snow storm, once again this junk car hampered plowing. I called the police last week and when I came home the junk car was tagged with the orange violation sticker. The owner came down and peeled it off again. This morning, the junk car was towed by the city. Thank you, BPD. I just hope the officer who applied the sticker was NOT on overtime.