BRISTOL — The average salary of full-time municipal workers here is the lowest in the East Bay.

Payroll numbers from 2006 show that each of the 153 employees is paid on average $49,675 annually. In comparison, Warren’s average pay is $55,493. Newport, which has the highest number in the region, shells out $63,091 to the average worker.

With 24,498 people, Bristol may have the second-largest population in the area, behind only East Providence, but its municipal payroll is a relatively modest $7.6 million. Newport, with a slightly smaller population, has a $23.2 million payroll.

To be sure, there are differences from community to community. For example, Bristol does not have a full-time fire and rescue department while Newport does.

Town Administrator Diane Mederos says there isn’t a single reason why Bristol has a lower average salary than its neighbors. She points to the Police Department and Department of Public Works, which have many young staff members who may be on entry-level salaries. Additionally, about a quarter of the workers in Town Hall aren’t entitled to longevity pay.

“We have a relatively young workforce,” Mederos said.

The findings are based on a Journal survey in which all cities and towns in Rhode Island were asked to provide information on all employees from 2006, including how much they made.

The data for the East Bay is based on full-time equivalents, or FTEs. One FTE can either be a single full-time worker or a combination of part-time workers. The numbers The Journal used were submitted by the town to the state Office of Municipal Affairs.

There are some inconsistencies in the numbers. Bristol’s total for FTEs includes only the number of full-time employees with the town, not any of the hundreds of part-time workers the town employs, according to Town Treasurer John Day. Other communities combined part-time and full-time workers in their total.

If Bristol’s part-time workers were included, it could have further reduced the average salary for town workers.

According to the numbers, Bristol spends $2.3 million or 30.5 percent of its nonschool payroll on public services, which includes public works functions, such as road maintenance and trash pickup; municipal utilities, such as water and sewer; and maintenance services, such as custodians of public buildings and mechanics who repair public vehicles. Bristol’s is the third-highest ratio in the state.

Mederos said the proportion is high because Bristol’s total number is comparatively low. Again, with a volunteer fire and rescue department, Bristol saves a large chunk of money that other cities and towns must spend. Day estimates that a paid fire and rescue department could cost as much as $3 million to $4 million a year.

Mederos said Bristol also spends more on public services because of programs like curbside trash pickup. The town has six full-time employees doing trash collection.

It could be one area where the town looks for savings in the future.

“We’re going to be looking at everything as a way to minimize costs,” Mederos said. “But we do have to provide services that are expected.”

The town spends about $3 million on public safety, namely the Police Department. That’s 40 percent of the payroll. Though that may sound high, it’s much lower than other communities, which spend up to three-quarters of their payroll on public safety.

Mederos said that with a high number of liquor licenses in town and with Roger Williams University, Bristol needs a sizable Police Department to keep the peace.

“For the amount that we spend, I don’t think that we’re overstaffed by any means,” she said.

Bristol’s $7.6 million payroll does not include the town’s contribution to the Bristol Warren Regional School District. The district’s payroll is $28.5 million for the equivalent of 347 full-time teachers and 192 support staff.

The average annual salary per full-time equivalent is $52,781, which is in the middle of the pack compared to other school districts in the East Bay. Little Compton’s school system has the lowest average salary at $43,820 while Portsmouth’s is highest at $64,852.

Although Bristol Warren Supt. Edward P. Mara and director of finance and administration Jane Correia said the number of teacher FTEs is accurate, they said the number for support staff should be lower.

The total number of staff compiled by The Journal is based on data the district itself submitted to the state Department of Education. It includes 57 employees who work in the district’s adult education program and the Child Opportunity Zone program, which organizes before- and after-school activities for elementary school students. Those programs are funded in part by grants and additional payments from those who use them. They are not offered in many other school districts.

Subtracting those employees from the equation would raise the average salary of the district’s employees to $57,823 just behind Barrington’s average at $57,840.

Over the past few years, the district has pared the number of school employees in response to budget constraints. Correia has said the district has cut 54 positions in the past 3 to 5 years and could cut another 20 this year. THE PUBLIC PAYROLL: EAST BAY

Payroll costs are by far the biggest item in the budgets of cities and towns. In the East Bay region, pay for municipal employees totaled more than $94 million, according to reports supplied to The Journal for each community for the calendar year 2006. The money for salaries came from local taxes, along with fees, grants and other sources.

In every community except for Newport, more money is spent on schools than on nonschool functions such as police and fire protection and public works.

The median household income offers a possible measure of the citizens’ ability to pay their municipal workers.

POPULATION is from 2006 U.S. Census estimates. MEDIAN HOUSEHOLD INCOME is from 2000 Census, adjusted for 17 percent inflation from 2000 to 2006. SCHOOL and NON-SCHOOL PAYROLLS were compiled by the Journal from 2006 figures. SCHOOL FTEs are from the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education for 2005-06 school year and are a total of teachers and staff. NON-SCHOOL FTEs are from the state Office of Municipal Affairs for 2007 fiscal year. (FTEs are calculated with a full-time employee counting as one and a part-time worker counting as a fraction of one, depending on how many hours he or she works.)

THE PROVIDENCE JOURNAL

akuffner@projo.com