BRISTOL — The highest-paid town worker in 2006 was Frank J. Pimental Jr., a foreman in the Department of Public Works who retired that year after more than three decades of employment.

Pimental was paid $95,886.01, more than double his base salary, because of a one-time payment of $12,521.05 in overtime and $40,256.36 in accrued sick days and vacation time.

Pimental topped a list of town workers that, unlike many other communities in Rhode Island, included no one who earned more than $100,000. To put his earnings in perspective, Pimental’s salary was the 943rd-highest among all municipal employees in the state.

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

Perhaps Pimental’s low place on the overall state list shouldn’t come as a surprise. The average salary for Bristol’s 153 full-time workers in 2006 was $49,675, making it one of the lowest in the East Bay region. The average is based on numbers the town reported to the state Office of Municipal Affairs.

Directly behind Pimental on Bristol’s top 10 list of wage-earners were two of the town’s longest-serving employees, Town Treasurer John M. Day and police Chief Russell S. Serpa.

Day, who has worked for the town since 1980 and runs the Finance Department, earned $87,035.05, which includes an approximately $5,200 buyback in sick days and another $5,500 in longevity pay.

Serpa retired in March after 39 years in the Police Department, the last 12 as chief. In 2006, he was paid $85,499.71, putting him third on Bristol’s list.

There are four other members of the Police Department rounding out Bristol’s top 10. Generally, across the state, police officers are some of the highest earners because of overtime and detail pay. For example, in Tiverton, 7 of the 10 highest earners are police officers. Newport has a similar ratio.

The officers on Bristol’s list include Josue Canario, who was then deputy chief of the department and is now acting chief while the town searches for a permanent replacement for Serpa. Canario was paid $74,043.83, which includes $2,680.45 in overtime. He was fourth on the list.

Sergeants Scott McNally, Brian C. Burke and Steven Calenda were fifth, seventh and eighth on the list, respectively. McNally’s salary of $73,931.18 included $16,375 in overtime and $288 in detail pay. Burke’s $70,890.86 salary included $11,878.41 in overtime and $1,315 in detail pay. And Calenda’s $70,458.20 pay included $135.08 in overtime and $3,471.67 in detail pay.

For officers such as Calenda, McNally and Burke who worked traffic details, that pay came from the private sector, not from taxpayers.

Between the officers, at number six on the list, was Town Administrator Diane C. Mederos, the town’s highest elected official. She was paid $72,458.81, a relatively small salary compared to similar positions in other communities. For example, the Newport city manager was paid $128,750 and the Barrington town manager was paid $120,552.54.

Mederos, the former town clerk who has a master’s degree in public administration from the University of Rhode Island, said the difference in pay reflects how the people who occupy the positions are chosen. In Bristol, the town administrator is elected. Any candidate can run as long as that person lives in town. Generally, in other communities, a town or city manager is appointed by the local council, which can select from a national pool of professional municipal managers.

The final two places on the list were taken by two department heads, Matthew A. Calderiso, superintendent of the Water Pollution Control Department, and Fred W. Serbst, director of the Department of Public Works. Calderiso, whose department manages the wastewater treatment plant and sewer system, earned $69,774.91 while Serbst was paid a nearly identical salary of $69,423.61.

Compiled by Paul Edward Parker

THE PROVIDENCE JOURNAL

Source: Town of Bristol

akuffner@projo.com