CUMBERLAND — Six out of the 10 top earners in town government in 2006 worked in the School Department and nine out of the top 10 earners outside of the School Department were public safety personnel.

Schools Supt. Donna Morelle topped earners with $117,353 in 2006, a salary that put her among the top 200 highest paid town employees in the state. School legal counsel and Human Resources director Joseph Rotella came in second with a salary of $98,886. That salary put Rotella at 735th in the state.

The highest paid municipal employee in 2006 was Police Lt. Joseph Louro, whose $93,105 gross salary put him third behind the school administrators.

That’s all according to data from calendar year 2006 that was provided by the town at the request of The Journal. The figures do not include the cost of benefits, but do include overtime, longevity bonuses and extra pay for stipends, special work details, and compensation for other responsibilities and holding advanced education degrees.

There were 1,295 employees on the town payroll in 2006; 970 employees worked in the School Department while 325 employees worked in other town departments. There were 195 full-time employees and 130 part-time employees in the town administration (the School Department did not respond to The Journal’s request for a breakdown of full-time and part-time employees).

The School Department also did not provide a breakdown of their employees’ gross salaries beyond overtime, so it is unclear how much of those numbers come from extra pay or longevity.

Based on her current contract, Morelle earned a base salary of $108, 882 for school year 2006-2007, and an additional $3,500 for holding an advanced degree and up to $3,000 in incentive pay.

Rotella’s salary represents his dual role as HR director and legal adviser, with roughly 50 percent of his salary going to each function, said School Department business manager Alex Prignano.

Three of the 10 on the list of highest paid school employees — special education director Susan Moore, high school principal Stephen Driscoll and high school assistant principal Omer LeClerc — either resigned or retired in 2007.

Prignano said those employees did not receive a severance package since the department limits the amount of paid vacation employees can accrue. “There were no big windfalls,” he said.

On the town side, Finance Director Thomas Bruce III said that the results of the non-school municipal rankings did not come as a surprise, since police and rescue personnel have the greatest opportunity to boost their earnings through overtime pay.

“In general, public safety overtime is a cost that needs to be monitored,” he said. Bruce said departments must keep a close watch on staffing levels and injury leaves, two of the main drivers, he said, in forcing other employees to work overtime.

And department directors are virtually shut out of the list of highest paid non-School Department employees because department heads do not get overtime.

“The boss works as many hours as needed to get the job done. It’s all part of the job,” said Bruce, whose $86,041 salary puts him at seventh highest paid in the town and third of the municipal employees.

As an example, Bruce broke down Louro’s list-topping salary:

Louro, who is now in his 18th year in the department, earned a base pay of $59,130 in 2006 but made an additional $21,115 by working police details and another $2,351 in overtime. Work details are paid by the company or organization that hires the officers and does not come out of taxpayer money.

He also earned another $10,510 that Bruce said is likely from longevity pay (between 5 to 8 percent of his salary), $250 to $500 for completing higher education coursework, a $1,850 clothing allowance and a $500 bonus for accreditation.

In comparison, Police Chief John R. Desmarais will earn $68,960 this fiscal year, according to Bruce.

Police Detective Capt. Ralph Liguori, who sits at number two on the list of municipal employees, retired in November 2006, which accounts for his high salary that year, Bruce said.

Liguori’s base salary totaled $52,133 with $2,116 in overtime. He received a severance package upon retirement that included $24,048 for accumulated sick days and $3,551 for holidays. He also earned $4,447 for longevity and $2,453 as a clothing allowance, as well as additional money for educational coursework, and accreditation, Bruce said.

Liguori, a lawyer for the firm Cooley Manion Jones in Providence, now works part-time as the town’s District Court prosecutor for an $18,000-a-year salary.

Overall, the Police Department has an overtime budget of $70,000, which Bruce considered “low.” In comparison, the Rescue Department, which is separate from the Fire and Police departments, has an overtime budget of $250,000.

According to town data, emergency medical technicians in the Rescue Department account for nine of the 10 town employees who garnered the most overtime compensation in 2006 (the only non-Rescue Department employee on the list was Water Department worker Thomas E. Letourneau).

Charles Stimpson, number five on the list of highest paid municipal employees, was a prime beneficiary of the Rescue Department’s considerable overtime budget.

A 42-year-old EMT who has been with the department since 1989, he earned a base salary of $44,483 in 2006 but accrued $34,000 in overtime and another $4,722 in longevity bonuses and clothing allowance. Thomas Lindgren, another EMT who made the list, thanks in large part to his overtime payouts, earned a base salary of $43,191 and $30, 990 in overtime.

Bruce said the town administration has made strides in bringing the department’s overtime pay under control by hiring two additional employees last year. The department hit a peak of $350,000 in billed overtime in fiscal year 2005-2006. It is expected to reach $250,000 this year.

Compiled by Paul Edward Parker

THE PROVIDENCE JOURNAL

Source: Town of Cumberland

Compiled by Paul Edward Parker

THE PROVIDENCE JOURNAL

Source: Cumberland School Dept.

pmarcelo@projo.com