BARRINGTON — Town Manger Peter A. DeAngelis Jr. was the highest-grossing employee in town government in 2006 and he was one of five people — but the only one outside the School Department — who brought in over $100,000 that year, according to a 2006 analysis.

Superintendents usually make more than the mayor, town manager or town administrator of a community. But Barrington didn’t have a full-time superintendent that year, so the only person who came close to DeAngelis’ $120,553 pay was Betty Calise, assistant superintendent for curriculum, at $106,695.

(Currently, the town’s new superintendent, Robert O. McIntyre, makes $145,000.)

In the $100,000-and-over pay bracket, the manager is followed by Calise; John Gray, the high school principal; Ronald Tarro, director of administration and finance; and Steven Rotondo, who was listed in materials released by the School Department as a guidance counselor.

Rotondo made $101,113 because of a variety of other stipends, which can bring teachers into the top 10 as well.

For example, Rotondo is a department chairman and coordinates a program that arranges for accommodations for students with medical issues, for which he received an extra $11,873, Tarro said.

The pay for the top-step teacher in the fall of 2006 was $72,428. Longevity pay can add an extra $4,941. If someone has national board certification, that’s worth an extra $3,500.

In all, a dozen teachers in the School Department were listed as grossing $80,000 or more.

The findings are based on a Journal survey in which all Rhode Island cities and towns were asked last year to provide information on all employees from 2006.

Barrington had 127 full-time municipal employees and 135 part-time workers in 2006. The average pay for all the full-timers was $49,809.

“We seem to be right in the middle of the pack” compared to other East Bay communities, DeAngelis said.

The School Department listed 406 full-time workers with an average gross pay of $54,979.

There were also 265 part-time School Department workers, with pay ranging from $30,000 to $70,823.

The 2006 top 10 list for nonschool employees includes Police Chief John LaCross and three other members of his department, along with the heads of the Fire Department, Finance Department, public works and the library. Joseph M. Piccerelli, a public works superintendent, rounds out the top 10 list at $72,444.

If everyone in town had been lumped together into one list, only DeAngelis, LaCross and Detective Sgt. Dino Decrescenzo would have been among the 10 highest paid employees in town.

Decrescenzo was there because of overtime. In 2006, the detective earned $26,275 in overtime pay. His base salary that year was $62,819. (Sgt. Lee Soito, with a base pay of $60,571 earned $15,322 in overtime that year.)

“The [police] chief has asked for additional employees for at least three out of the last four years” to relieve some of the overtime, DeAngelis said.

Dean M. Huff Jr., the finance director, said that when it comes paying overtime versus the costs of hiring additional police, “overtime is the cheap way out.”

In fact, the base pay for some of the key positions on the municipal listing was significantly lower that the gross.

DeAngelis’ base was $104,604. But he got an extra $15,948 that was reported to the state as “other.”

The majority of that — $8,528 — was in longevity pay. He’s been a Barrington employee since December 1975.

Workers get an additional 6 percent of their base pay if they are with the town more than five years. That amount goes up to 7 percent after 10 years of service and 8 percent after 15 years.

DeAngelis also received $4,456 in sick time buyback for sick time he didn’t take, $867 for an automobile allowance and $2,096 in matching funds for retirement contributions, which the town lists under “deferred compensation.”

Such deferred compensation played a major role in bring up the gross pay for the police and fire chief.

LaCross got an extra $14,500 and Fire Chief Gerald Bessette received an additional $10,477 because money was not put into the state retirement system on their behalf. They have to finance their own retirement.

(Other department heads on the top 10 list also received such deferred compensation for retirement, but the amounts were less than $1,642.)

The gross pay of the chiefs was also increased by medical buybacks. The town gave LaCross and Bessette $5,620 and $5,152 respectively because they aren’t covered by the town’s health insurance program, a deal that saves the town money.

Neither chief received longevity pay.

But it did help increase the gross pay for many of the other people at the top of the municipal list, in amounts ranging from $5,162 for public works Supt. Joseph Piccerelli to $4,254 for library director Deborah Barchi.

Public works director Alan M. Corvi received no longevity pay.

Compiled by Paul Edward Parker

THE PROVIDENCE JOURNAL

Source: Town of Barrington

Compiled by Paul Edward Parker

THE PROVIDENCE JOURNAL

Source: Barrington School Dept.

gemery@projo.com