Connelly again tops town salaries
Published on February 1st, 2006
STONEHAM, MA - Superintendent Dr. Joseph Connelly again topped the charts as Stoneham's highest paid official last year with reported earnings of $136,071 in 2005, according to annual records prepared by the Town Treasurer's office.
According to Town Treasurer Thomas Cicatelli, who compiles the salary listing each year, the chart is based upon W-2 tax forms prepared for calendar year 2005.
Noting that any income reported on the tax statements would also be reflected in the list, such as fringe benefits that may be offered to town officials, Cicatelli also stipulated that annual salaries are based upon a fiscal year, not a calendar year as is detailed in the report.
And while that might partially skew the numbers depending on negotiated cost-of-living or step-and-level salary increases awarded to town's employees partially into a new fiscal year, the Town Treasurer believes the figures are accurate for the most part.
"Basically, the only thing we can really use for this is the W-2's. That's the only thing we have that we can tie back into," explained Cicatelli, who often takes a lot of heat for compiling the list. "For me to try to extrapolate what a person earns according to fiscal year would be a much more involved process."
"[By doing this by calendar year], the only thing that might really skew the numbers would be if a person got a massive raise on January 1. So while it's not by fiscal year, I think it's really close enough," the Town Treasurer added.
Reached at his office on Tuesday afternoon, Connelly agreed with the figure cited for his salary, although he considered it inappropriate to comment on other school department employee salaries without seeing the actual document.
"What I would say is that's my salary. I think it's a very fair salary and that the town pays me what they can afford," the Superintendent remarked.
Over the past few years, especially as the town has trudged through financial difficulties, much debate has centered upon the topic of employee earnings.
According to various current and former town officials, an unjust discrepancy exists between employee pay scales on the municipal side and those in comparable positions on the school side.
However, various School Committee members have countered that argument, claiming that the comparison can't be made - as the various duties between school and municipal sector positions are more varied than let on.
At a glance, the 2005 list of employee salaries appears to dispute the contentions of those claiming that school officials rake-in more money on average than municipal workers.
In fact, of the top 10 highest paid officials in Stoneham, only Connelly's name appears from the school department, with the remaining nine being from the Stoneham Police Department. And of the top 25 earners in the town, only three educational workers fall into the classification.
According to Cicatelli, the manner in which the list determines an average salary is skewed in that it unfairly lumps overtime, details, and regular salaries together.
Claiming that he commonly takes heat for compiling the annual list because the pay of workers laboring as many as 80 hours a week gets compared to the regular work-salaries of other Stoneham employees, the Town Treasurer feels the overtime and paid detail figures really shouldn't be considered.
"When you see police working all this overtime and then making $30,000 in details, they're working 70-hours a week to get that money. And the paid details are especially a bone of contention with me because the town actually makes money on those," the Town Treasurer reasoned.
"So as you take these details out, the police and firefighting salaries tend to drop down and school salaries prop up," Cicatelli furthered.
According to the figures prepared by the Town Treasurer, the scales do tend to tip once paid details and overtime is removed from the list - meaning all rankings are based upon earnings during a regular work week.
In fact, by removing the details, three - rather than one - school department employees squeak into the top ten category, and seven - rather than three - rank within the top 25. Of the nine police officers listed as one of the town's top ten earners in 2005, only four remain after erasing detail revenues.
And by removing both paid details and overtime hours from the list, 15 school officials rank within the top 25 category, rather than the three district employees listed when the extra pay is included.
Only five police officers would fall under the top 25 earners without the two additional salary columns, compared to a dozen if left in for consideration.
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