WARREN — The average salary of a full-time town employee in Bristol is the lowest in the East Bay. At least according to Journal calculations based on state data.

Warren Town Manager Michael Abbruzzi, however, would challenge that notion.

Payroll numbers from 2006 show that each of the 153 full-time municipal workers in Bristol earns an average of $49,675 a year while each of the 66 full-time workers in Warren makes $55,493 a year. The calculations used separate sets of data supplied by the towns to the state Office of Municipal Affairs and The Journal.

But Abbruzzi says there’s a flaw in the numbers. In compiling its staff lists, the state asked for FTEs, or full-time equivalents. One FTE can either be a single full-time worker or a combination of part-time workers. Meanwhile, in putting together payroll charts for every community in the state as part of a survey, The Journal asked that the salaries for any municipal employee be included.

Although Warren supplied a list of only its full-time workers to the state, it gave The Journal a payroll that included not only part-time employees but also seasonal workers and any elected or appointed official who received a stipend for his or her work.

So Warren’s $3.6-million payroll for 2006 even includes the members of the volunteer Fire Department who went on just one call during the calendar year.

Using that number for the payroll yields an inflated figure for the average salary. Abbruzzi put together another payroll, one that included only the salaries of full-time workers. He found a total of 68 workers for 2006. Their salaries added up to $3.3 million. And, interestingly, their average pay worked out to $48,999.48, a few hundred dollars less than Bristol’s.

Abbruzzi deflected any questions about what having the lowest average salary in the region could mean for Warren.

“I can’t say if it’s a good thing or a bad thing,” he said. “I just wanted to make sure the correct number was out there. I don’t know what other communities gave you.”

And that’s why it’s difficult to make comparisons between towns. Even the calculation for Bristol’s average salary may not be definitive, because, it turns out, Bristol did the same thing as Warren. Its payroll includes everyone it paid even a stipend to, so conceivably its average salary could be much lower.

What is indisputable is Warren’s relatively slim staff. For every full-time municipal employee the town has 170 residents, the highest number in the region. Compare that to Bristol, with 160 residents per employee, or Newport, with 67 residents per employee.

The figures suggest that Warren makes do with less.

“In the Town Hall, there is not a large headcount,” said Abbruzzi.

In fact, he said, the only major new position created by the town in more than a decade was the town planner. And the addition of that position was required by an amendment to the Town Charter.

Abbruzzi said the town has been able to serve its residents by using “technology to maximize efficiency.” For example, townspeople doing property record searches are often directed to the town’s Web site, where they can access digital maps, rather than having a clerk do the research for them.

The Department of Public Works is also lean, Abbruzzi said. Most staff members have permanent assignments, leaving only a handful to do irregular jobs like sweeping streets, picking up yard waste or planting trees.

According to the numbers, Warren spends $1.9 million, or 53.3 percent, of its nonschool payroll on public safety. Because Warren has a volunteer Fire Department, that money is devoted to the Police Department. It may seem high, but other cities and towns in the state spend as much as three-quarters of their payroll on public safety.

Warren’s Police Department has 22 officers, including Chief Thomas Gordon, but two are currently out injured on duty. The town consistently pays approximately $200,000 annually on overtime to fill shifts. Gordon has requested hiring additional officers, but Abbruzzi said it’s cheaper to have officers already on the payroll work extra shifts.

The lack of new hires in the department is emblematic of Abbruzzi’s way of thinking.

“I think that the Town of Warren has historically run and continues to run extremely lean for the amount of services that we offer,” he said.

Warren’s municipal 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 paid for 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 three to five 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 NONSCHOOL 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. Portsmouth figures have been updated from previously published charts after consultation with the school department. NONSCHOOL 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