EXCLUSIVE: Providence Bosses Take Raises
Wednesday, March 09, 2011
Non-union city workers in Providence collected $236,000 in retroactive raises at the end of February—the day after all teachers in the city were fired and about a week before the release of a report showing the city was in a financial emergency.
“I’m surprised it’s that much,” said Paul Doughty, president of city firefighters’ union. “Given the city’s condition, it doesn’t seem prudent and, when the idea of concessions are being raised, I think it sends a mixed message.”
The amount of the raises far exceeds the pay that non-union workers gave up in furlough days this year—an estimated $40,000.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTCity Councilman Kevin Jackson said the raises send the wrong message to city employees—and the public—given the other cuts that have been proposed to the budget. “To me personally, it sends a message that the higher-end people deserve more consideration … than the lower end of the people of the city who are being told we don’t know if you will be working for us anymore,” Jackson told GoLocalProv.
Pay raise was promised by Cicilline
The raises were included in the 2011 budget Mayor Angel Taveras proposed and the city council passed last month. Spokeswoman Melissa Withers said the 2 percent pay increases had been promised to city employees in the budget that was originally proposed by outgoing Mayor David Cicilline, but never passed by the council. The budget passed last month was a revised version of Cicilline’s last budget.
The new administration decided to keep the 2 percent raise that employees had been counting on for the last six months of 2010, but cut an additional one percent raise that would have been applied to their pay for the first six months of this year.
Withers said the timing of when the raise hit the payroll was arbitrary. She also noted that even though the raise was issued last month, it did not affect any of the new staff in the Mayor’s office. She also pointed out that the Mayor’s office is taking a 10 percent cut in its budget.
Firefighters don’t get raise until end of year
Council President Michael Solomon defended the raises. He said they were "fair" because they reflected what union members are receiving. “It’s always been our past practice that the non-union people get what the union people get,” Solomon said. “It’s been going on for years.”
In the case of the firefighters, they have yet to actually receive any raises in the current fiscal year—which stretches from July 2010 to June 2011. Instead, they are due to receive a 3 percent raise on the last day of the fiscal year, according to Doughty. He said holding off on the raise for a year postponed an estimated $1 million increase in costs to the city.
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