Mayor: Next Lloyd Harbor police chief won’t get overtime pay

The next Lloyd Harbor police chief will not be paid overtime, the village mayor said Monday night, as residents concerned about Suffolk prosecutors subpoenaing the village for police records questioned the former chief’s lucrative contract.

At a village board meeting, Mayor Jean Thatcher said the employment contract for former Chief Charles Flynn, who was paid thousands of dollars in overtime before he retired in November, was in place before she became mayor two years ago.

“Any new chief would have a salary contract,” said Thatcher, who added that the board handles village business “extremely lean and very clean.”

Suffolk prosecutors earlier this month sought a trove of documents, including Flynn’s time sheets, sign-in/sign-out sheets and payroll records dating back to 2007, according to a subpoena issued to the village. Prosecutors also asked for documents relating to evidence intake, narcotics destruction and weapons surrenders from 1987 to present.

Flynn, a 34-year veteran of the village Police Department, has not responded to Newsday’s requests for comment.

More than 20 residents attended the meeting, and some questioned the village board’s oversight of Flynn’s contract.

“I have a chief of police making over $300,000 a year, and we have zero crime in this village,” said Candy Bertuccio, who has lived in the village for 25 years. “I just don’t think it warrants that kind of salary. There are cops who fight every day in Brooklyn, Queens, Bronx — they’re probably well deserving of it — make a fraction of that salary.”

Robert Squicciarini, a nine-year village resident, voiced support for Flynn. “I know Chief Flynn,” he said. “He’s a gentleman. I hope he gets through this OK. . . . I think he did a great job.”

Flynn made a total of $304,324 in 2015, including $190,463 in salary and another $43,113 in overtime, according to village records, even as Lloyd Harbor enjoyed a low-crime existence.

Flynn’s contract said he would be paid a salary of $207,233 in 2016, an 8.8 percent increase from the previous year. Deputy Mayor William Burdo disputed that figure and said the raise was closer to 4 percent. He didn’t explain his calculation.

Flynn was the third-highest paid county or municipal employee in the state in the 2015-16 fiscal year ending March 31, when he was paid $311,961, according to the Empire Center for Public Policy, an Albany-based government watchdog group.

By comparison, Suffolk Police Commissioner Timothy Sini’s salary is about $166,022 and acting Nassau Police Commissioner Thomas Krumpter’s salary is about $237,265.

After Flynn retired on Nov. 11, the village hired Krumpter as a consultant on policing issues. Burdo said Monday night the village has received “several” resumes for the police chief’s job.

Some residents said they were embarrassed to hear about the subpoenas and Flynn’s contract. “I feel that we’re being ripped off,” said Jeffry O’Beirne, an IT executive and a village resident for seven years.

By Nicole Fuller

nicole.fuller@newsday.com@NicoleFuller

Nicole Fuller is Newsday's senior criminal justice reporter. She began working at Newsday in 2012 and previously covered local government.