Overall payroll costs among Long Island’s towns and cities decreased by more than $12 million in 2017 even as overtime spending ticked up by less than 1 percent, according to Newsday’s annual analysis of municipal data.

News

Overall payroll costs among Long Island’s towns and cities decreased by more than $12 million in 2017 although overtime spending ticked up by less than 1 percent, according to Newsday’s annual analysis of municipal data. 
The payroll costs represent the second consecutive year of tighter spending from year to year, according to figures from 2011 to 2017. 
Islandwide payroll spending went from $748 million in 2015 to $746 million in 2016 to $733 million in 2017. That trend follows three straight years of increased payroll spending from 2013 to 2015. 
Overtime spending Islandwide increased 0.88 percent from 2016 to 2017, the data show. Municipal governments spent $41 million — 5.51 percent of their payroll costs — on overtime in 2015. In 2016, overtime spending decreased to $35,027,403 but rose to $35,336,401 in 2017. 
The town and city workforce decreased 1.12 percent to 19,911 in 2017 from 20,137 full-time, part-time and season employees in 2016, according to the data. 
Newsday analyzed payroll spreadsheets provided by the governments of Long Island’s 13 towns and two cities. Some municipal governments count overtime figures differently than others, which could affect comparisons of the data.&nbsp; 
Tim Hoefer, executive director of the Albany-based Empire Center for Public Policy, a fiscally conservative think tank, said it’s best to look at the 2017 data over the long term. 
For example, while the 2017 payrolls are down compared to 2016, they are still up by more than $30 million overall from 2011. In the same period, data shows municipal staffs decreased by more than 1,000 employees Islandwide. The change represents a 4.3 percent increase over six years. 
Hoefer said town and city governments need to undertake long-term financial planning that looks at “not just next year but five years down the road.” 
“I think it’s about whether you’re matching your community’s wants and needs and desires with their ability” to afford it, he said. 
The average town or city worker pay Islandwide decreased 0.53 percent, to $36,850 in 2017 from $37,047 in 2016. 
That figure includes a range of employees and their pay, from part-time, hourly lifeguards to executives with six-figure salaries and full-time employees who accrue thousands of dollars in overtime. And some towns in recent years have offered retirement incentives and buyouts, which remain on the payroll through the life of the payout but remove the salaries — often relatively high because of the employees’ longevity — from future years’ payrolls. 
The Town of Babylon again had the lowest average town worker pay, with a total average pay of $23,233 in 2017. Southold’s workers also again were paid the most, with an average of $57,063 in total annual pay last year, the data show. 
The cities’ and towns’ governments paid, on average, $1,774.72 in overtime per employee in 2017. Brookhaven’s average was the highest, at $2,889, while Hempstead’s was the lowest with $366. 
Hempstead — Long Island’s largest town by population — had 3,921 employees in 2017, again the highest number of employees compared with the other towns and cities. And Hempstead again had the highest payroll — $176 million — of all the municipal governments. It has held those two top spots since Newsday started compiling payroll in 2011. 
Shelter Island, the smallest town on Long Island with 2,800 residents, last year had 145 town employees and a $4.86 million payroll, also the lowest overall Islandwide since 2011. 
Brookhaven, for the fifth year in a row, paid the most overtime among towns and cities in 2017, at $5.88 million. 
Hoefer said that generally, if municipalities are trimming their workforces in an effort to decrease their budgets but their overtime costs are going up in response, they may not have accomplished what they wanted in reducing payroll expenses. 
While payroll data isn’t often readily available to residents, Hoefer said, “we need to have access to this information as taxpayers, to decide if the government is doing a good job with our tax dollars.”

Long Island

TOPAYR180715

Long Island town, city payrolls decreased in 2017, data show

Town, city payrolls decreased across LI in 2017

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Long Beach top officials saw their pay nearly double last year because of one-time separation payouts or drawdowns of vacation and sick time, a Newsday review of city records shows. 
Long Beach Police Commissioner Michael Tangney, former City Manager Jack Schnirman and Corporation Counsel Rob Agostisi were among the top-paid city employees in 2017 as each received separation payouts at the end of the year, accounting for accrued time off, payroll records provided by the city indicate. 
They were included in $2.1 million in payouts for accrued time in the city’s payroll last year. Long Beach officials said union and nonunion employees have been allowed to be paid for accrued time for decades to reduce larger payouts to retirees later. The payouts have averaged $2.6 million over the past three years, according to a state comptroller’s review. 
The top compensation in 2017 went to Long Beach Police Sgt. Lee Nielsen, who was paid $287,000 — bolstered by $109,000 in overtime that city officials attribute primarily to overnight DWI patrols and daytime court appearances. Nielsen did not receive a payout for accrued time earned. Tangney, Schnirman and Agostisi followed Nielsen as the city’s top-paid employees. 
The city’s other top-paid employees were a dozen police officers making between $245,000 and $195,000, followed by former Comptroller Shari James, who was paid $195,098, including a $44,395 payout, firefighter Sam Pinto, who was paid $188,095, including $72,953 in overtime, and Beach Maintenance Superintendent Thomas Canner who was paid $184,307, including $63,056 in overtime.
The city faced a $2.1 million shortfall this year when City Council members rejected a bond resolution for the payouts, which threatened layoffs if the city was unable to meet its payroll. The debt was rolled over to next year. 
Tangney, who also serves as acting city manager, said the city will end the practice of payouts for accrued time to active employees, a practice by the city for at least the past decade. 
“We are not doing payouts moving forward to active employees,” Tangney said. “It hurts the city’s financial picture.” 
Tangney received an additional $52,000 payment to his $231,965 salary for a total payment last year of $283,957. He did not take an additional salary this year as city manager. 
Schnirman received a total of $282,107 last year, adding a $108,000 payment for his previous $174,000 salary, city records show. His payout from six years as city manager included 419 hours or 52 days of unused vacation time, and 877 hours or 110 days of sick time. 
Agostisi was paid $128,457 for his accrued time when he planned to leave the city for a job with the Town of Hempstead, but was persuaded to stay with an offer for a $25,000 raise, which was later returned. Agostisi attempted to return the payout, but was told it had already been reported as income by the city for taxes. 
The city’s former public works director, James LaCarrubba, who retired in 2016, was hired back as a $39,000 labor relations secretary and a consultant on projects after superstorm Sandy. In August, his salary increased to $130,000. He was paid at the higher rate for two months until he left the city, for a total payment of $69,779, including a $20,967 retirement payout. 
The state comptroller is conducting an audit of the city’s payout process and the city’s overall finances, which this year bridged a $4.5 million deficit with an 8.3 percent tax hike. 
City officials said the payouts were issued at the discretion of the city manager, primarily for retirements, but also to at least eight employees who remained on staff. Officials said the payments were issued correctly under the city’s payroll code, based on a 2000 memo that allows employees to accrue up to 50 days of vacation time, or 400 hours, plus at least 30 percent of unused sick time and another 25 days by the end of the year.

TOLONG180716

Long Beach 2017 payroll jumped from payouts, city records show

City payroll jumped from payouts, records show

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The town of Shelter Island spent the bulk of its payroll on police and highway department salaries in 2017, a Newsday review of town records shows. 
The $4,855,525 town payroll increased by 0.21 percent over the previous year’s payroll of $4,845,239, data provided by the town indicate. 
“We are looking to the future with a prudent Town Board and a very professional and responsible family of Town employees,” Shelter Island Supervisor Gary Gerth, who took office in January, said in an email statement. 
The town spent about $216,857 in overtime, or 4.47 percent of the entire payroll, in 2017, records show. That represents a small increase from 2016, when the town spent 4.31 percent of its payroll on overtime. Across Long Island, the average payroll percentage that towns spent on overtime was 4.82 percent in 2017. 
The top eight earners in Shelter Island were all police department employees, who were paid a total of $1,200,471 last year, records indicate. Police represent the top pay across Long Island towns and cities with their own law enforcement departments, records show. 
Shelter Island Police Chief James Read had the highest 2017 pay at $211,561, with a base salary of $185,956 and a uniform cleaning allowance and longevity pay. 
Det. Sgt. Jack Thilberg made the most overtime in 2017 with $40,528 on top of his $138,722 salary, records show. With additional pay items for holiday pay, night differentials and a uniform cleaning allowance, Thilberg made a total of $194,803 in 2017. 
The town police department has nine full-time employees, and another 11 part-time and seasonal staff. Police employees in total earned $1,621,666 in 2017, or 33 percent of the town’s total payroll, records show. 
Read said four high-ranking officers retired between 2016 and 2017, which lowered the department’s overall payroll. 
The top-paid non-police staffer was labor crew leader Brian Sherman of the Highway Department, who was paid $19,488 in overtime in 2017, records indicate. The entire highway department was paid $1,417,407 in 2017, or 29.2 percent of the total payroll. 
The town added 16 employees in 2017, going from 129 staffers to 145 — an increase of 12.4 percent. 
In 2017, the average pay of a Shelter Island employee was $33,486, which is a 10.85 percent decrease over the average pay of $37,560 in 2016. Across Long Island, the average pay of a town employee was $36,857 in 2017. 
With about 2,421 residents, Shelter Island has about 16.7 residents per town employee. The 12.1-square-mile town has the smallest payroll of all the towns on Long Island.

Suffolk

TOSHEL180716

Shelter Island payroll spends bulk on police, highway dept.

Police, highway dept. are bulk of town payroll

Hempstead Town officials reduced the town’s overtime payments by nearly 33 percent in 2017, the second year in a row of mass cuts to the supplementary spending, a Newsday review of town records shows.
Overtime spending went from $4.9 million in 2015 to $2.1 million in 2016, a 56 percent decrease, records indicate. The spending then went down further, to $1.4 million, in 2017.
On average, the town paid $365.93 in overtime per employee — the lowest amount for any Long Island town or city government in 2017.
The decreases came during former Supervisor Anthony Santino’s tenure. In November, he lost his re-election bid to Democratic Supervisor Laura Gillen for leadership of Long Island’s most populous town.
Santino’s stated goal upon taking office in 2016 was to cut $1.8 million in overtime spending. Officials had predicted last year that 2017 overtime costs would be roughly $2.1 million again.
Overtime made up 0.82 percent of the town’s more than $175 million payroll for 2017, the largest payroll of any Long Island town or city, data provided by the town show. The total payroll last year was cut 1.46 percent from 2016’s $178 million.
The town’s staff was reduced 5.77 percent — the most on the Island — from 4,161 employees in 2016 to 3,921 in 2017. The town still employs the most staff of any town or city government on the Island.
Gillen said the 2018 overtime budget is $2.8 million and it’s expected to come in lower than that by the end of the year, barring unforeseen events.
“We’re watching every department carefully to make sure that they stay within their budget and that they stay within their costs,” she said.
Water service supervisor Paul Slater was paid the most overtime in 2017 for the second consecutive year at $17,357. In 2016, he made $27,111 in overtime. Water service worker Robert Kneuer Jr. followed Slater in 2017 with $9,610 in overtime.
The top 10 overtime recipients in 2017 worked in the Water, Sanitation, and Information and Technology Departments and were paid more than $5,000 in addition to their salaries, records show. In 2016, the top 10 workers all made more than $11,000 in overtime.
The four top-paid town employees in 2017 retired last year and started receiving their severance payments. Parks Commissioner Michael Zappolo’s 2017 base salary was $154,237 and his total pay — he did not generate any overtime — was $320,263. He left the town in November.
The highest-paid active employee was again Mike Deery, formerly the town’s spokesman and currently the confidential assistant to the receiver of taxes. He was paid $205,765 in 2017, town records show.
Santino attributed the overall payroll spending drop to offering retirement incentives and only replacing employees when necessary, limiting other hiring, changing shifts and schedules, and reducing overtime spending to emergencies such as snowstorms or water main breaks.
“I think I took a town that had serious financial issues and in two years, by making tough decisions on behalf of the taxpayers, I was able to turn that around in two years,” Santino said. “I think the numbers bear that out conclusively.”
Gillen said her office found the town’s initial response to Newsday’s public records request for 2017 payroll records, submitted after Santino had left office, did not include 121 staffers who had retired in 2016 but continued to receive more than $9 million in severance payments last year.
Previous Hempstead payroll releases have included retirees, though not all towns do so.
“It shows that we really need checks and balances in Hempstead and that my office really needs to be watching over everything for fiscal control,” she said.
Gillen also criticized 192 promotions, raises and transfers granted to employees — which she says means $2.4 million in extra salary costs — and a no-layoff clause passed during Santino’s final meeting as supervisor in December. 
Gillen has filed a lawsuit contesting the personnel moves and the no-layoff clause and Santino declined to comment on it.

Nassau

TOHEMP180717

Hempstead Town reduced OT by almost 33%, records show

Town reduced OT by almost 33%, records show

TOHEMP180717_WEB

Glen Cove’s overtime costs jumped nearly 8 percent from 2016 to 2017, pushing up the city’s overall payroll expenses even as employee costs elsewhere on Long Island fell, a Newsday records review shows.
The city in 2017 had the third-highest percentage of its payroll going to overtime of the Island’s two cities and 13 towns: 7.6 percent compared with 4.8 percent Islandwide. Private companies or the state government reimbursed the city for overtime payments generated from, among other things, driving-while-intoxicated patrols.
More than half of Glen Cove’s $1.5 million in overtime in 2017 went to the police department, as it had in previous years. 
Police overtime increased 8 percent in 2017 to $867,000, but $81,845 of that was special detail for the filming of the Adam Sandler movie “The Week” in the city, Deputy Police Chief Christopher Ortiz said. The film’s production company later fully reimbursed the city, he said. Without that expense, department overtime dropped by about $18,000 compared with 2016, records show.
Fifteen of the top 20 overtime recipients in 2017 were police officers.
The two top police overtime recipients, Dets. Eddy Linares and Brian Glennon, “do a lot of narcotics enforcement,” including on two cases in 2017 that required them to repeatedly travel during their usual off-hours to U.S. District Court in Central Islip, Ortiz said.
Linares was the city’s second-highest overtime recipient in 2017, with overtime pay of $41,823, in addition to his $148,270 base salary and $24,481 in other income that includes night differential, holiday pay and longevity pay. Glennon ranked third, with $38,425 in overtime, a base salary of $148,189 and $24,505 in other pay.
Both also work nights, when overtime tends to be higher, Ortiz said. The city court is closed at night and with no city jail, arrestees must be transported to Mineola, he said.
The city’s fourth and sixth top overtime recipients, Officers Steven Grella and Jason Grella, also work nights, he said. The men are cousins, Ortiz said.
Much of Steven Grella’s overtime is because he made the most driving-while-intoxicated arrests in Glen Cove in 2017, Ortiz said. Peter Grella — who is Steven Grella’s brother and was 16th in total overtime pay — made the second highest number of DWI arrests, Ortiz said. Their combined overtime of nearly $62,000 in 2017 was due in part to the time to transport DWI suspects to Nassau County Police headquarters in Mineola for testing by specially trained breath alcohol technicians, including during special enforcement efforts, such as holiday weekends, when waits for breath tests are long and push up officers’ work hours, he said.
The top Glen Cove overtime recipient overall was Emanuel Grella, the general labor foreman in the Department of Public Works, who made $47,330 in overtime. That constituted 36 percent of Grella’s total $130,510 pay in 2017. Much of that overtime was work during snowstorms, city controller Sandra Clarson said. Emanuel Grella is not related to Steven and Peter and Jason Grella, she said.
Overall, the city’s payroll costs in 2017 rose 2.9 percent, to $19.9 million from $19.3 million. Clarson said the chief reason for the increase was unionized city employees receiving an average 4 percent pay increase between 2016 and 2017.
The top-paid employee in 2017 was again Police Chief William Whitton, whose total income was $258,068. The 39 highest-paid city employees were all police officers, with 19 making at least $200,000, including overtime, according to the records provided by Glen Cove.
“There’s not a lot we usually can do about that, because they are under the PBA [Police Benevolent Association] contract, and we have to abide by that,” Mayor Timothy Tenke said.
The highest-paid non-police employee was parks and recreation director Darcy Belyea, who had an income of $149,363, including $25,173 in overtime in 2017, records show.

TOGLEN180718

Glen Cove OT costs jumped in 2017, payroll records show

City’s OT costs jump in 2017, records show

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The Town of Huntington’s overtime costs increased to 13.21 percent of the overall budget in 2017 after dropping in 2016, a Newsday review of town payroll data shows. 
Town officials paid out $4,105,245 in overtime from the town’s annual budget of $190 million. 
The highway department had the top four overtime earners, followed by the general services department. 
Town Supervisor Chad Lupinacci, who took office Jan. 1, said overtime is a necessary cost. 
“Overtime does balance out over a period of time,” Lupinacci said. “For every full-time employee you have to hire, there are startup costs, whether it’s health benefits or retirement benefits, so overall it cost less to pay an individual overtime than hire another full time employee.” 
Overtime costs had been on a three-year downswing from 2012 to 2014 but jumped to 7.06 percent of the total budget in 2015. In 2016, the town paid 5.85 percent of the budget in overtime costs. Overtime spending that year went from $4,637,765 to $3,626,113, a 21.81 percent decrease from the previous year. The town’s total 2016 budget was $189 million. 
In 2012 overtime costs were 5.34 percent of the budget and continued to decline for the next two years. But a series of heavy snowstorms in 2015 drove up overtime costs. 
Of the total overtime paid last year, $1,123,000 went to pay snow overtime, Lupinacci said. Overtime increases also can reflect retirement payouts or vacancies that have to be filled by another employee until someone new is hired, he said. 
Lupinacci also pointed out that the timing of a snowstorm — whether it occurs overnight or on the weekend — impacts overtime. Off-hours storms require more overtime work than those during business hours. 
“A snowstorm overnight means you have to bring people in,” Lupinacci said. 
Martin Gagliano, an auto mechanic level four, made the most overtime among town employees in 2017 with payments totaling $62,017 on top of his $92,193 base salary. He has worked for the town since March 1983. 
Lupinacci called Gagliano a “hard worker” and “reliable” employee who oversees other auto mechanics. 
The town’s 2017 payroll overall decreased 2.24 percent over the previous year to $60,614,742 from $62,005,718 even as the staff grew by 40 workers, according to payroll data. 
The town’s staffing had slight fluctuations over the past few years, according to Newsday’s analysis. In 2012 the town employed 1,781, the number increased to 1,803 in 2013 and inched up to 1,805 in 2014. In 2015 the number rose to 1,863, then dropped to 1,788 in 2016 and then 1,828 in 2017, records show. 
Town Supervisor Frank Petrone, who did not seek reelection in 2017, was the town’s highest-paid employee in 2017 with total pay of $162,903.00, data show. 
Lupinacci said looking at payroll information helps residents better understand where their money is going. 
“It shows where their money is being invested, shows where town services are concentrated, which positions require more spending than others,” Lupinacci said.

TOHUNT180718

Huntington's overtime costs increase in 2017, records show

Town's OT costs jump in 2017, records show

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Oyster Bay’s town payroll costs fell sharply in 2017 because of a temporary pay cut and reductions in staff compared to the previous year, a Newsday analysis of town records shows. 
The number of full-time staff, including elected and appointed officials, fell by 90 employees to 1,081, a 7.6 percent decrease from the previous year, according to town payroll data. 
Payroll costs went down to $86,768,603 in 2017 compared with $99,916,753 the previous year, a 13.16 percent drop and a level not seen since 2013, records show. Overtime costs went in the opposite direction last year, reaching their highest amount since 2012 at $5,622,661 with a 10.78 percent increase from $5,075,550 in 2016. 
The reduction in payroll costs is partly due to a union concession in a contract approved on Jan. 4, 2017, in which employees agreed to a 2 percent salary cut for two years. The town also cut costs by reducing staff through retirement incentives in 2016 and 2017 and a partial hiring freeze. The 2017 budget assumed salary reductions of $17 million, according to town financial documents. 
Although the temporary salary cut was originally to run through 2018, the town board approved raises in the first quarter of 2018 for more than 100 employees totaling more than $840,000. The board also approved restoring the salaries for everyone else six months earlier than scheduled. 
The highest pay in 2017 to a town employee who did not retire was Vincent Ciccolella, a storeyard supervisor in the parks department who was paid $151,787 which included $45,151 in overtime. Ciccolella’s overtime pay was the highest in the town that year, records show. 
Frank Nocerino, who served as town parks commissioner for years but changed jobs in March, retired in May and was indicted on state corruption charges by Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas in June. Nocerino was paid $160,494 in 2017, the data show. 
Another employee indicted last year on corruption charges by Singas, Salvatore Cecere, continued to work for the town as a highway maintenance supervisor. He was paid $99,419, which included $5,915 in overtime. The town suspended Cecere for 30 days without pay, town spokesman Brian Nevin said in an email. “State and Federal laws prevent the town from dispensing further discipline pending the outcome of the District Attorney’s charges,” Nevin wrote. 
The highest-salaried town employee last year was $163,000 for Nevin, who left former Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano’s administration midyear to become the town’s spokesman. 
Town Attorney Joseph Nocella had the second-highest salary at $161,700, an increase over the $148,361 paid to his predecessor Leonard Genova, who resigned in January 2017. Town Supervisor Joseph Saladino, who was appointed on Jan. 31, 2017 to replace John Venditto, had a salary of $137,200, records show. 
Sanitation and recycling workers accounted for the majority of 2017 overtime pay with $3,452,981 — 61 percent of the town’s total. In 2018 the union and town board approved a contract amendment to allow the town to hire part-time sanitation workers.

TOOYST180719

Oyster Bay 2017 payroll costs fell sharply, records show

Town's payroll costs fell sharply, data shows

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The Town of Southold’s annual payroll in 2017 went over the $20 million mark for the first time, a Newsday review of town records shows. 
Salaries increased by 3.82 percent, or $743,395, to a total of $20,200,339, making it the second-highest payroll increase among Long Island’s towns and cities in 2017, the data show. 
The top base salary went to Police Chief Martin Flatley with $192,831, while Det. Edward Grathwohl had the top total pay in 2017 with a base salary of $134,052 and overtime of $39,146. The police department had the top 23 earners and made up 41 of the top 50 overall paid employees, with the five highest earning more than $200,000 each with overtime. 
The top non-police pay went to Town Comptroller John Cushman who made $144,194 including $2,811 in overtime in 2017, records provided by the town show. The employee with the most overtime in 2017 was chief building inspector Michael Verity, who recorded $40,317, bringing his total earnings for the year to $143,265. 
Town Supervisor Scott Russell said part of that $20 million total was an increase in payouts for accumulated sick and vacation leave. He said in 2016 the town paid out about $164,000, but in 2017 that number increased to $365,000. 
The records provided by the town show that the number of employees increased by 21 to 354 from 333, but Russell said the increase is misleading as there are 15 employees included in the information from last year who have retired or resigned, along with their replacements. The town did not provide the names of those employees. The town hired six additional seasonal employees in 2017, he said. 
Russell said the town hitting the $20 million mark for salaries wasn’t a “watershed” number and was “completely in line” with expectations based on union contracts and workforce demographics. 
“It’s not really a threshold for anything, it’s just a number,” he said. “Every year it goes up, that’s what is more concerning.” 
Russell said the town’s strategy is to look for more employee contributions toward medical insurance with each new contract negotiated. He said town officials recently settled a new contract with the police force that covers 2017 through 2019, but remain at an impasse with the Civil Service Employees Association after the contract expired last year. 
The average pay for town employees decreased by 2.34 percent last year to $57,063 from $58,429 in 2016, a result of replacing retired workers with employees at a lower salary, Russell said. However, the average employee pay in the town remains the highest on Long Island, a distinction the town has held since 2011, according to a Newsday analysis. 
Russell attributed the higher pay to the town having an older workforce, with about 70 percent of all workers having been employed for 15 or more years 
“As the workforce ages, the salaries go up,” Russell said. “It’s not rocket science, it’s contractual increases and it’s medical.” 
The town posted a 12.5 percent decrease in overtime in 2017, the fourth largest decrease among Long Island towns and cities, according to Newsday’s analysis. 
“I wish I could take credit for such a substantial drop in one year as some innovative new policy we put in place, but the reality is in 2016 we had a lot of injured police officers” requiring more overtime by other officers, Russell said. 
In 2017, the town’s $977,029 in overtime was closer to its normal level, he said. It was the lowest amount of overtime the town has paid in the past six years, a Newsday analysis showed.

TOSOUT180719

Southold Town annual payroll topped $20M in 2017, data shows

Town payroll tops $20M for first time, data shows

North Hempstead Town’s payroll rose 0.56 percent in 2017 over the previous year, with the town adding 20 new staffers, documents reviewed by Newsday show. 
The town spent $34,854,414 on its payroll in 2017 and staffing rose to 935 from 915, the records provided by the town indicate.
North Hempstead’s highest-paid employee last year was town attorney Elizabeth Botwin, who made $166,470, according to the data. She has worked for the town since 2014. 
Other employees at the top of the payroll are Commissioner of Planning and Development Michael Levine, with a salary of $150,094, and Deputy Commissioner of Public Works and Acting Superintendent of Highways Joseph Geraci, who made $148,798 last year.
With a salary of $135,780, Town Supervisor Judi Bosworth was 10th on the list of the town’s top-paid employees last year. 
Overtime pay went down 6.44 percent, to $1,705,242 from $1,822,705, records show. Overtime costs represented nearly 5 percent of the town’s total payroll in 2017. 
Town spokeswoman Carole Trottere said the overtime decline was “driven by the fact that individual department heads were more focused on the judicious use of overtime” and that overtime usage is always variable, based on weather and special projects that come up.
The town board in October 2016 adopted a policy requiring all Highway Division overtime to be approved by the finance department. The Public Works department, which includes the town Highway Division, had the most departmental overtime in 2017 with $943,477 paid, records show. In 2016, the department spent $936,338 in overtime costs. 
Charles A. Poole Jr., a highway maintenance supervisor, received the most overtime of all town employees last year, with $40,663 collected in addition to his $97.080 salary, the data show. 
The Parks Department, one of the town’s largest departments with nearly 400 employees, had $281,390 in overtime last year. 
The town employee headcount rose 2.19 percent to 935 positions in 2017, records show. Town officials said that number was conflated by the inclusion of both employee resignations and their replacements in its list of staff on the payroll.
After taking out the duplicate reporting, town officials said the number of full-time employees increased by 11 people from 2016 to 2017.
Trottere said the town increased the number of positions in the Building Department by four in 2017, reflecting the town’s “focus on providing more resources to this department.” 
The town’s 2017 payroll per capita amounted to $149.64, records show. Its average pay of $37,278, which decreased 1.59 percent from the previous year, was above the Islandwide average of $36,856 for the year.

TONHEM180720

N. Hempstead 2017 payroll increased less than 1%, records show

Town payroll increased less than 1%, data show

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The Babylon Town payroll grew by about $260,000 from 2016 to 2017, driven by a 10 percent increase in overtime pay, data reviewed by Newsday show. 
The town paid its 1,388 employees $32,247,615 in 2017, marking the fourth straight year of payroll growth, according to records provided by the town. 
But average Babylon wages continued to be the lowest of the 13 towns and two cities on Long Island, a comparison of their payroll records shows. Workers in Babylon were paid $23,233 on average in 2017, compared to $36,857 Islandwide. 
Babylon Town Supervisor Rich Schaffer noted that the town’s average pay is brought down by its many entry-level seasonal parks employees. More than 1,000 of those on the payroll are part-time or seasonal workers. 
“Overall we try to strike a balance between fairly compensating our hardworking employees and not overburdening our taxpayers,” Schaffer said in a statement provided by spokesman Kevin Bonner. “Babylon continues to do more with less.” 
Diane Caparso, the town’s unit president for the Civil Service Employees Association, said she was satisfied with her union’s contract with the town. 
“You might start low, but in a couple of years you’re making a decent salary,” she said of town wages. 
Ben Carenza and Andrew Viega, representatives of Babylon’s Local 237 union members, declined to comment. 
The 1,388 employees listed on Babylon’s payroll represent an eight-person increase from 2016, although 15 employees appear twice in the 2017 database because they held multiple positions or changed jobs midyear, bringing the total number of town employees last year to 1,373.,The $148,000 jump in overtime and double time — from about $1.46 million in 2016 to $1.6 million in 2017 — stemmed largely from a $62,000 increase in the off-hours pay for Maintenance of Streets workers. 
Bonner attributed that growth to paving projects carried out by town employees on weekends when traffic was light, which he said cost the town in overtime but saved it in outside contractor costs. 
Eleven town employees were paid more than $25,000 in overtime and double time in 2017, including sign painter Thomas Guilfoil, whose $28,000 in off-hours pay was part of $128,000 in total compensation, records show. Bonner said Guilfoil earned his overtime producing important traffic signs on nights and weekends to replace others damaged in car accidents or storms, for example. 
“Some signs need to be made right away,” Bonner said. 
There were 62 Babylon employees whose salaries topped $100,000 in 2017, including eight labor crew leaders, nine maintenance mechanics and chief environmental analyst Rich Groh, whose $155,000 in total compensation made him the top town earner, as in years past. 
Twenty-six employees received stipends for additional roles, such as chief of staff Ronald Kluesener, whose base pay of $109,000 was supplemented with $8,500 for serving as “solid waste administrator,” town records show. 
The head count in the 2017 payroll does not include about 36 workers the town employed through Red Hill Professional Services, a company owned by former town comptroller Doug Jacob. The town subcontracts with Red Hill through the solid waste consultant Herbert L. Greene. The town paid Greene $1.65 million in 2017, an increase of about $120,000 over the year prior, Bonner said.

TOBABY180720

Babylon Town 2017 payroll growth driven by overtime increase

Town payroll growth driven by OT increase

TOSMAL180523_WEB

Several Islip Town employees made more than the average town worker’s salary in overtime pay alone in 2017, receiving more than $40,000 in overtime each, payroll data reviewed by Newsday show. 
Town park rangers led in overtime pay in 2017, with three paid more than $50,000 in overtime each, records provided by the town indicate. Twenty-four employees — mainly park rangers and highway employees — took home more than $20,000 in overtime pay, while 11 received more than $30,000 last year. 
Town comptroller Joseph Ludwig said overtime increased because park rangers and highway departments were understaffed. 
“It’s always the ‘do more with less’ concept,” Ludwig said. 
With 29 fewer town employees in 2017, total payroll costs decreased by about $1.33 million, or 2.63 percent, from $50.8 million in 2016 to $49.46 million last year, data shows.
Average pay for Islip Town employees in 2017 was $30,893, the fourth-lowest average pay of the 13 towns and two cities on Long Island, according to Newsday’s analysis. 
Overtime pay for all employees increased by 15 percent to $3.31 million in 2017 from $2.88 million in 2016, data reviewed by Newsday shows. Of 1,601 employees in 2017, about 1,055 workers made no overtime pay, records show. 
Park ranger overtime “really skyrocketed for a while” as rangers had to constantly patrol Brentwood’s Roberto Clemente Park — where 40,000 tons of contaminated debris was illegally dumped in 2013 and 2014 — before it reopened in July 2017, Ludwig said. Officials were not able to hire more rangers until August 2017 because of the schedule of Suffolk County peace officer classes, he said. 
Edward Carter, who holds the title of park ranger II, was the top overtime earner for the fourth consecutive year, making $54,288 on top of his $70,932 base salary in 2017. Park ranger Thomas Hill made just $140 less in overtime than Carter in addition to his $63,243 base salary. Park ranger Brendan Kearns, who testified he was the ranger to report signs of illegal dumping at Roberto Clemente Park to his superiors, made $50,139 in overtime pay plus his $63,877 base salary.
In 2017, about 500 summer workers were paid between $87.50 and $37,500 each — totaling nearly $2.4 million — representing about a third of the town’s employees and 5 percent of payroll costs, data shows. 
Data about summer employees from 2011 to 2015 was not provided in the town’s responses to Newsday’s requests for payroll information under the Freedom of Information Law. 
The highest-paid town employee last year was Thomas Owens, the commissioner of public works and parks and recreation, who made $152,404. His pay was $21,154 more than that of the second highest-paid employee, town aviation commissioner Shelley LaRose-Arken. The town lost staffers in 2017 through “natural attrition,” Ludwig said, noting that many workers seek jobs with higher pay given the town’s low average pay. 
Islip Town Supervisor Angie Carpenter did not make herself available for comment about the town payroll.

TOISLI180723

Islip Town overtime costs increased in 2017, records show

Town’s OT costs increased in 2017, records show

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All but seven of the 83 highest base salaries in Southampton Town in 2017 were for law enforcement officers, town records reviewed by Newsday show. 
The town spent $43,494,851 on its payroll in 2017, up $1,382,579 million, or 3.28 percent, from $42,112,271 in 2016, the data show. Newsday last year reported Southampton spent $38.6 million on its payroll in 2016, but that was based on erroneous data received from the town. 
The 2017 payroll included $1,773,531 in overtime, up $43,626 from $1,729,905 in 2016.
The 43 highest-paid employees in the town were police or superior officers, records show. The highest-paid non-police employee was town comptroller Leonard Marchese, who received $143,055 in base pay and $5,473 in other pay for a total of $148,528 in 2017, making him 44th overall. 
Four Southampton Town law enforcement officers, including a retiring detective, were paid more than $200,000 in 2017, town records show. 
Det. Richard Gates, who retired in August 2017, was the highest-paid employee in the town with total compensation of $235,418. He collected a $154,223 payout for accrued time, on top of his $81,195 base salary. 
The other three employees to be paid more than $200,000 were Capt. Lawrence Schurek Jr. at $222,032, Det. Steven DeMarco at $203,170 and Sgt. Todd Bennett at $201,098, all figures that include overtime and other compensation. 
Former Police Chief Robert Pearce, who retired in 2016, collected a $139,660 payment in January 2017 for accrued time, making him the town’s 62nd-highest-paid employee that year. It was the second half of his total payout, Marchese said. 
Dets. DeMarco and Robert Stabile Jr. were paid the most in overtime among town employees in 2017, receiving $60,159 and $39,613 respectively, records show. 
Marchese attributed a majority in the overall rise in spending to 2 percent raises and a few step increases for employees. 
“This is an expensive place to live. I understand that workers need to be paid a livable wage,” said Southampton Town supervisor Jay Schneiderman, who was the 99th highest-paid employee with $108,243 in base pay and $117,429 in total compensation. “I think a two percent increase is quite reasonable.” 
Only one position, that of a police officer, was added to Southampton’s roster of 535 full-time employees last year, Marchese said. The town employed 967 people in 2017, although a little less than half are seasonal and part-time workers. Records show that 30 employees on the 2017 payroll have since retired. 
Schneiderman noted the town recently approved a retirement incentive package to be offered to select employees on a 32-hour work week. That package allowed workers to be paid a full year’s vacation and longevity pay even if they retired halfway through the year, he said, adding that one employee, a police aide, took advantage of the package. 
“We were able to fill the position at a lower salary,” Schneiderman said.

TOSHAM180723

S. Hampton Town's 2017 payroll topped by police, records show

Top town salaries went to police, records show

TOSHAM180723_WEB

Brookhaven Town’s payroll has largely remained the same for the third consecutive year after spending $72,174,821 on municipal employees in 2017, according to a Newsday review of town and city payroll data documents. 
The amount was the third largest among Long Island towns following Hempstead and Oyster Bay. Brookhaven is the second-most-populated town on Long Island with more than 480,000 residents. 
Brookhaven’s 2017 payroll spending compares with $72,496,840 in 2016 and $72,075,495 in 2015, records show. 
Brookhaven Town chief of operations Matt Miner said the decrease is an accomplishment because of cost of living adjustments and town employees receiving 2 percent raises. 
Miner attributed the payroll decrease to the town becoming more efficient with technology and hiring new staff at lower salaries. 
Miner was the town’s highest-paid employee with a salary of $157,792, the data show. Parks commissioner Edward Morris was next at $155,721. 
Highway supervisor Michael Murphy was the town’s third-highest-paid employee with a salary of $148,780, including $46,492 of overtime, documents show. 
Brookhaven employed 2,034 people last year compared with 2,029 the year before. 
While overtime dropped 10.63 percent to a three-year low of $5,876,577 in 2017, it was still the highest among Long Island towns, documents show. In 2016, $6,575,854 was paid in overtime, while it was $7,404,665 in 2015. 
Oyster Bay was second in overtime with $5,622,661 and Hempstead, Long Island’s largest town by population, had $1,434,816 in overtime, records show. 
Miner said Brookhaven can’t be compared to other towns and that the overtime payments were necessary. 
“We have the most land miles to plow in the winter with the snow,” Miner said. “It also means we have the most land miles to sweep and pave, so there’s overtime cost associated with snow removal.” 
Geographically, Brookhaven is the largest town on Long Island. 
“The other big factor is that we have an operating landfill that operates six days a week and 10 or 11 hours a day,” Miner said. “These other towns don’t have that.” 
He said overtime costs also accumulated from projects such as dredging Yaphank Lake. 
“We do a lot of projects with the staff that we have,” Miner said. “When you get out there with all that heavy equipment, you’re not going to stop, you’re gonna work sun up to sun down to finish the project.” 
Miner said it’s more efficient to pay overtime to town crews than hiring a private company with contract workers. 
“While I may be giving an employee two hours of overtime ... it’s a lot cheaper,” Miner said. “We have the equipment, we have the human resources and the talent to get a lot of these capital projects done.” 
Brookhaven Town Supervisor Edward P. Romaine had a salary of $121,362, making him the 38th highest paid, and town attorney Annette Eaderesto took home $129,190. Finance Commissioner Tamara Wright made $143,338.

TOBROO180724

Brookhaven Town payroll unchanged year-to-year, records show

Town payroll unchanged year-to-year, data show

TOBROO180724_DR8_WEB

Smithtown’s payroll edged up roughly 2 percent to $36.6 million in 2017, an increase Comptroller Donald Musgnug said was driven partly by negotiated raises and civil service step and longevity increases. 
Another factor, according to Musgnug: town employees are staying on the job longer “and thus accumulating larger accrued time payouts.”
The average retirement age for a town worker in 2012 was 61.25 years, with 21.65 years of service, he said. Last year the average retirement age was a little over 64 years, with 26.46 years of service. 
Smithtown had 482 full-time employees in 2017, down from 506 in 2016, records show. The number of part-time and seasonal workers also dropped, to 752 from 816. A Newsday analysis of payroll data from the town put the average total compensation among town workers last year at $29,655.
Most of the town’s highest-paid employees were the same as those at the top in the previous year, with a few changes in position.
Public Safety director John Valentine became the top-paid worker, receiving $173,769 — a 6 percent raise over his 2016 compensation. He was followed by Environment and Waterways director Russell Barnett, who held the top spot in 2016 and whose total 2017 compensation was $165,050. Town personnel officer Eileen Tropea was the third-highest compensated worker with total compensation of $151,017. Almost all of the top-paid workers have decades of service with the town. 
The town paid out $1.4 million in overtime in 2017, up 0.65 percent from 2016, with much of the extra pay going toward Highway Department workers responding to storms. That was deliberate, Musgnug said, with the overtime payments being the result of a calculation that it was “more cost-effective to incur overtime on an ‘as-needed basis’ rather than to staff up for emergencies and have more full-time personnel on payroll all year.”
Highway supervisor David S. Clark topped the overtime list, adding $35,311 to his $102,452 base salary, the data show. He was followed by Ernest Behnke, another highway supervisor, who added $26,368 to his $91,020 base salary last year.
“They go out in driving rain, snow, floods, downed trees,” Musgnug said. “They are required to be on sitet for these type situations.”

TOSMIT180724

Smithtown payroll increased 2% in 2017, record review shows

Town payroll increased 2% in 2017, data show

TOSMIT102417_WEB

Riverhead saw its overall town payroll rise 3.4 percent to $28,707,907 last year from $27,755,908 in 2016, according to a Newsday analysis of town payroll records. 
Riverhead’s police department was the highest-ranking town department for total pay in 2017 with a payroll of $14,375,097 — a 1.9 percent increase from the department’s $14,100,824 payroll in 2016.
The second-highest payroll was for the town Highway Department, which paid its employees a total of $2,373,612 in 2017, marking a 0.6 percent decrease from the $2,387,939 in total highway payouts in 2016. The Water Department was the third-highest-paid town department among total pay figures, increasing 14.7 percent to $1,439,803 in 2017 from $1,255,215 in 2016, records show.
Riverhead’s Sewer Department, which operates the town’s Scavenger Waste Treatment plant, had a payroll of $1,139,558 in 2017, a 1.04 percent decrease from the $1,151,576 total pay in 2016, data provided by the town show.
Overtime payments went down 3.1 percent to $1,173,768 in 2017 from $1,211,328 in 2016, according to the records. Police received the largest share of overtime payments — $876,186 in 2017, a 7.7 increase from the $813,446 in police overtime costs in 2016.
Riverhead Police Chief David J. Hegermiller said police overtime costs were primarily due to two factors. 
One was the need for staff to fill in for officers on sick or vacation time, representing about 40.6 percent of the overtime costs. The other issue driving up overtime costs was investigatory work, which made up roughly 13.6 percent of overtime expenses, Hegermiller said. And the need for extra manpower to handle events that drew large crowds such as the annual Country Fair, Polish Fair and the “Alive on 25” festival on Main Street also contributed to overtime costs, he said.
Using part-time officers helped keep the department’s overtime costs down the previous year, Hegermiller said, adding, “They do help out enormously with walking patrols on Main Street and (large) events.” But many of those officers don’t stay with the department long as they often leave for positions elsewhere, he said.
Highway overtime costs were the second-highest among Riverhead’s town departments at $62,666. That marks a 55.2 percent increase from the $40,365 in overtime that highway staff received in 2016. The Sewer Department saw overtime costs rise to $53,103 in 2017 from $46,734 the previous year, pushing the department to third in overtime costs in the town.
Overall, Riverhead’s total number of employees decreased by four to 553 last year, according to the payroll figures. The town cut 20 positions from its payroll the previous year. 
Among the town’s 553 employees, 98 were making $100,000 or more. Police staff made up the 10 highest-paid employees in 2017, with five of them being paid upward of $200,000. Hegermiller received the top salary last year at $253,072, records show.

TORIVE180725

Riverhead Town payroll rose 3.4% last year, records show

Town payroll increased 3.4% in 2017, data show

TORIVE180725_WEB

A change in police staffing helped East Hampton Town cut overtime spending last year by more than 24 percent, town officials said.
The town police department switched from an old schedule that required officers to work three eight-hour shifts to a new schedule in which they work two 12-hour shifts, town budget officer and finance director Len Bernard said.
The longer shifts reduced the need to call in officers to work additional hours and cut the town’s outlay for police overtime by about $121,000, he said.
The cut in police overtime accounted for most of East Hampton’s $203,000 decrease in overtime pay throughout town government. Overtime spending last year dropped 24.29 percent compared with 2016, according to payroll data supplied to Newsday by town officials.
“And the officers love it,” Bernard said in a telephone interview. “There’s a steady shift. There’s no need to bring in an additional three officers [on a shift]. . . . It creates a stable schedule for them personally as well as professionally.”
Overall payroll spending increased last year by $1,293,420, or 5.09 percent, town officials said. Most of that increase was due to contractual pay increases.
East Hampton’s 2017 payroll of $26,692,147 was the third-lowest among Suffolk’s 10 towns, and ranked third among the five East End towns.
Only Southold at $20,200,339 and Shelter Island with $4,855,525 had smaller payrolls than East Hampton.
East Hampton’s police department, which employs 76 officers, supervisors, dispatchers and other staff, is the town’s biggest department in terms of personnel and payroll, Bernard said.
East Hampton had 655 employees last year, compared with 658 the year before.
The town’s highest-paid employee last year was Police Chief Michael Sarlo, who was paid $215,480. Sarlo does not receive overtime pay.
The second-highest-paid employee was police Officer Frank V. Trotta Jr. , who received $190,897, including $17,081 in overtime.
As in other towns with their own police departments, East Hampton’s 40 highest-paid employees worked for the police department.
Supervisor Larry Cantwell, who stepped down at the end of last year, was paid $106,945. 
Bernard said the change in police shifts went into effect last year and had been negotiated as part of a new police contract that was ratified two years ago. The four-year deal, which included an increase in night differential pay for officers on evening shifts, expires in 2020.
The town also cut overtime by filling vacant police positions, which reduced the need for officers to work extra shifts, he said.
“They were looking for ways to create a more stable workforce,” Bernard said. “It seems to have worked. You didn’t have people calling in sick and you didn’t have people coming in to work for people who were sick.”
He said the new police contract also helps town officials prepare future budgets with a stronger sense of what they expect to pay employees.
“It helps us tremendously,” Bernard said. “We’re going to be starting the budget process soon. When we go in there, we have a better idea of what we’re going to be paying in overtime and night differential. It’s a win-win for us. . . . Everybody’s managing with the staff we have and we seem to be holding the line pretty well.”

TOEHAM180725

East Hampton Town cut OT spending by 24% in 2017, data show

Town cut OT spending by 24%, records show

TOEHAM030618_WEB

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