East Hampton payroll reduced by hiring young police, data show

East Hampton Town reduced payroll spending by more than $180,000 in 2016 as younger police officers replaced retiring officers who were among the highest-paid town employees, budget officer Leonard W. Bernard Jr. said.

Payroll totaled $25,398,727 last year as the average employee pay dipped to $38,599 from $40,606 in 2015, a Newsday review of town payroll data shows.

The 50 highest-paid town employees were all associated with the police department, from top-paid employee Police Chief Michael D. Sarlo, who made $205,801 in total compensation, to 50th highest-paid employee public safety dispatcher Michael Seitz, who was paid $112,971.

Total compensation for police department members includes a clothing allowance and pay for working holidays, nights and overtime. Police department members also receive longevity pay, which is “like a bonus based on how many years you have with the town,” Bernard said.

Sarlo, whose base salary was $176,654, does not receive overtime pay as a department head.

East Hampton Town added three new police officer positions between April and September 2016 with those hires — Officers Justin Solof, Andrea Kess and Lucas Plitt — paid $37,989, $38,479 and $27,935, respectively, in 2016. Four other new officers filling vacant positions were paid between $11,854 and $32,019, records show.

Those salaries are nearly a third of the approximate $100,000 total compensation of the senior officers who left the department in 2016, including retired Officer Jay Diamond and former Lt. Austin McGuire, who became chief of the Sag Harbor Village Police Department. Diamond and McGuire did not receive any overtime pay but were paid for accumulated unused leave, according to Bernard and payroll records.

“We’ve had a lot of turnover with police in the last three or four years,” Bernard said. “It’s a much younger police force.”

The town’s highest paid non-police employees included Bernard, Highway Superintendent Stephen Lynch and Senior Assistant Town Attorney John C. Jilnicki, who respectively were paid $110,215, $108,382 and $106,631, records show.

Town Supervisor Larry Cantwell was the 59th-highest paid employee with a salary of $104,848.

The town’s 313 full-time employees received average pay raises last year of about 2 to 3 percent as required by labor contracts, Bernard said. But the town kept costs down by filling open positions later in the year and adding more seasonal or part-time workers, including lifeguards and harbormasters.

“At night, when you have a lot of beach fires and parties on the beach, it goes hand in hand with extending lifeguard coverage and also trying to beef up (traffic control officers) to direct traffic,” Bernard said.

Those enforcement issues — including crowded beaches and nightlife noise in Montauk — also accounted for the $26,010 bump in overtime costs to $837,982, which represented about 3.3 percent of payroll costs, Bernard said.

Of the 10 employees to receive the most overtime pay, nine are members of the police department. Receiving the most overtime pay was Officer Frank Trotta, with $26,237 on top of his $111,739 base salary.

Ranking 10th was highway labor crew leader Luis F. Bahamondes with $15,492 in overtime in addition to his $64,675 base salary in 2016, records show.

While the number of people who worked for the town increased to 658 from 630 in 2015, officials cautioned that the number of employees has remained “static” for the past five years.

“Because we have so many seasonal employees, we have high turnover,” Cantwell said. “We’re not even increasing staffers. We’re replacing someone who leaves early for school.”

By Rachelle Blidner

rachelle.blidner@newsday.com@rachelleblidner

Rachelle Blidner covers Suffolk County government, politics and breaking news.