Harp Grants 37 Raises

by Staff | Jun 15, 2018 2:40 pm

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Posted to: City Hall, Labor, City Budget

Mayor Toni Harp gave raises to top non-union managers and confidential employees, in some cases their first raises in four years. The move prompted outraged alders to launch an investigation. She gave the raises to 37 out of 48 city government “executive management and confidential” employees, meaning top aides not covered by a union contract. The raises, which took effect this week, are controversial for two reasons. First, an 11 percent tax increase takes effect with the new city budget July 1. Second, as part of that budget process, the Board of Alders voted to require the Harp administration to come before it prior to approving any raises for executive management and confidential employees. The administration argues that it doesn’t legally have to do that as long as raises stay within salary ranges the alders have already approved for those positions. Alders argue that the charter allows department heads to move around $5,000 in their budgets without legislative approval, but that Section 2-386 says aldermanic approval is needed for any budget transfer to “increase the total annual salary estimate included in an appropriation for any reason.” Update: After this article appeared, the Board of Alders leadership released a statement announcing it will launch a “formal investigation” into these raises and take action “based on our findings.” The release argued that the raises"should have been communicated to the Board of Alders, the budgetary authority of the city, pursuant to the Charter and the Code of Ordinances.” Following 3144 The city’s practice had been in the past to raise the salaries of the 48 city employees in conjunction with raises granted to members of AFSCME Local 3144, which represents management and professional workers. But Mayor Harp had not granted raises to many of the group’s salaries in years, in some cases since she took office in 2014. Her controller, Daryl Jones, for instance, hadn’t received a raise until this week, when his annual pay rose 10.49 percent to $129,000. Meanwhile, the employees have paid an increasing share of medical and pension benefits. Twenty-one of the 37 employees received 7.5 percent raises. Corporation Counsel John Rose, Jr., for instance, saw his pay rise by that much, as did City Engineer Giovanni Zinn and public works chief Jeff Pescosolido. Other hikes varied based on how recently people had received raises. Youth services chief Jason Bartlett, who did receive a raise three years ago, got a 5 percent hike this week. Officials for the police and fire unions criticized the raises at a pension fund meeting Friday morning, questioning how the city could raise managers’ salaries while thrifting on overdue contributions to their retirement funds. Harp noted that the increases match what’s in the new contract for AFSCME Local 3144. “It’s been four and a half years since they got a raise,” she explained. “Look, some of them will be making less than” the employees they supervise in Local 3144. She added that she won’t be included in those bureaucrats getting bigger checks. “I got a raise earlier,” she noted. Patrick Cannon, a trustee for the public safety pension who represents firefighters, questioned how the city could increase these salaries during a budget crisis. “We say we’re putting stop-gaps in place, yet we’re giving raises later this afternoon,” he said. “At least, remove [Jones] as a [pension] trustee and possibly as a controller, because he can’t do his job.”

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posted by: Bill Saunders on June 15, 2018 3:09pm ‘Fiscal’ Jones got a raise….. Geez

posted by: THREEFIFTHS on June 15, 2018 3:13pm Your 11% Tax Hike at work.

posted by: Cosmofarr on June 15, 2018 3:28pm There was also considerable retro pay to last July to add injury

posted by: repmd on June 15, 2018 3:29pm I just wonder how many of these administrators reside in New Haven. My suspension is that they live in suburban areas because they do not want to pay the higher taxes in New Haven. The same high taxes that pay their salaries and pensions.

posted by: Nadine H on June 15, 2018 4:18pm I don’t even know where to begin with how ABSOLUTELY OUTRAGEOUS it is for the mayor to grant these pay raises right after she has the nerve to hit city residents with an 11% tax increase; who does that?!?!? You say the city is broke and you have no money to do street paving, traffic calming, remove dead trees or cut the grass but you’re giving out raises up to 10?!?!?!?!? To @repmd’s point, how many city employees actually live in New Haven and will put their increased pay back into the city???? And don’t even get me started on Jason Bartlett, who just received a $20k raise last year and is getting another 5% this year, for what his stellar leadership and oversight of the Escape teen center? Oh wait, that’s still not finished yet… Does the mayor have any respect for the alders any more, or does she just do whatever she wants regardless of the “check” that the BoA is supposed to be on her office??? If the alders don’t see this as a slap in their collective faces and demand that she take back these raises, then I don’t know what the point of the BoA is.

posted by: NHPLEB on June 15, 2018 5:27pm Everybody just keep complaining and writing in the papers instead of attending meetings. Then, be sure to vote for your Democrat friends for every office. Why is everyone all surprised at this??? These are the same people who have been running the city and state for some years . We are run into the ground. Yet, we re-elect them; no matter what they do. Either switch your votes or stop complaining!

posted by: newhavenishome on June 15, 2018 5:58pm Wow, I’m beginning to think Toni tone-deaf Harp has no intention of running again. These people do not deserve raises. They have repeatedly failed to serve the citizens of New Haven, as have the BOA and the BOE. Get them all out, we need to clean house. This will not be forgotten come election time.

posted by: NHPLEB on June 15, 2018 6:04pm I would bet my life, newhavenishome, that the people forget and send all the same democrats back to State office in November and in NH the next year. I bet my life and I won’t lose it!!! That’s how stupid we are!

posted by: budman on June 15, 2018 6:29pm Where is the entire list of these increases?

posted by: RatashaSmith Most haven’t had raises since Harp took office…fine give them raises. But, Jason Bartlett just go a significant raise last year that was controversial right?!?

...and now he gets a 5% raise?

Yet his “Escape” project has yet to come to fruition…interesting.

posted by: Nadine H on June 15, 2018 7:20pm I agree @AMDC, which is why I help spread the word about and attend the monthly FRAC meetings where they discuss the city budget on a monthly basis and the city controller and budget director, as well as a few alders and residents are in attendance. The members of FRAC are all experts in finance and can and do make recommendations, as well as answer any questions folks have.

A fellow resident and commenter, blanx27 felt the same way as you so he suggested that we take our frustrations and energy out of the comment section and into real life. I offered our WEB management team’s community room at our police substation as a place to meet and we’ll be holding our first property tax increase brainstorming meeting on Wednesday, June 27th 6:30 pm at 332 Whalley Avenue. We’re also putting together a petition and a Facebook group where we can not just vent, but work on real strategies and solutions to hold our elected officials accountable.

Feel free to join us and spread the word to anyone you think would be interested. No more business as usual in New Haven!

posted by: Noteworthy on June 15, 2018 7:46pm The city needs to be sued - and Harp should be booed and harassed at every meeting she attends. This is such a slap in the face of taxpayers, of city employees. 7.5 to 11% pay raises? And Jason Bartlett gets to keep his $20K salary hike illegally given him last year? Harp is a disgrace - as a mayor, as a leader as the ceo of this city. With her fancy trip to China - which likely included first class air fare, the chauffeur, her own pay hike - all with people who make well into six figures. The average income in New Haven is $34K. But she’ll demand a $30 million tax increase; 20% parking fine increase and other fee increases - she disgusts me.

posted by: THREEFIFTHS on June 15, 2018 8:45pm posted by: AMDC on June 15, 2018 5:27pm Everybody just keep complaining and writing in the papers instead of attending meetings Attend for what.The Deal is already cut. These are the same people who have been running the city and state for some years . We are run into the ground. Yet, we re-elect them; no matter what they do. Either switch your votes or stop complaining! I never vote for the Two Party system.I always do a write in. posted by: AMDC on June 15, 2018 6:04pm I would bet my life, newhavenishome, that the people forget and send all the same democrats back to State office in November and in NH the next year. I bet my life and I won’t lose it!!! That’s how stupid we are! The problem is the donkey and the elephant symbols of the two dominant political parties are tied at the hip. Both of them rotten to the core.It is now time to put the donkey and the elephant on a raft and push them out to sea.

posted by: PandorasBox on June 15, 2018 9:07pm It is amazing that Jason Bartlett, Youth Services Director, continues to get raises. Has anyone see the new Mayors Summer Youth Guide in New Haven that his department published this week? The guide listed numerous summer programs and internships for youth, but the deadlines for registering for these program has long past. Why waste tax payers money by creating a full color brochure with information that is out of date? Why was this guide distributed so late? Perhaps the New Haven Independent should investigate the “Youth at Work” Program that Jason Bartlett runs….what a joke. Hundreds of teens apply, yet the Youth Services Department can only secure funding for a fraction of the teens. Don’t blame it on the state budget, get cracking Jason, find the money, isn’t that what you are hired to do? Jason Bartlett advertised Youth at Work in his Mayors Summer Youth Guide, why? The deadline for Youth at Work was Thursday March 31st! Students who apply to Youth at Work are required to fill out a very simple application, and a few standard tax forms. A list of all the applicants is then sent to city department heads, non-profits and summer camps. As a city administrator, I have received this list, 1000 applicants..how does one choose? The teens are never interviewed, city department heads and non profits just “pick who they know” and hire them. Why not have Jason Bartlett and the Youth Department conduct initial interviews of the teens in each New Haven Public High School? How about a job fair at each high school? Hire based on skills not nepotism.

posted by: PandorasBox on June 15, 2018 9:16pm I know for a fact that this form of nepotism occurs year after year, because I have hired Youth at Work for my department, I am just as guilty of not interviewing the teens that apply because there is never enough time or opportunity. Organizations and camps are only notified in mid to late June about the budget for hiring Youth at Work, and often their is only enough $$$ to hire one or two from a list of almost 1000! As a New Haven Resident, my own children have applied to Youth at Work, and gotten hired by organizations that never even interviewed them! Another tip for the New Haven Independent to investigate is how many “out of town teens” get hired for Youth at Work, each year, because their parents work for the City of New Haven..so yes, teens from Woodbridge, Branford even as far away as Clinton have gotten hired by Youth at Work.

And for this Jason Bartlett is getting a raise?

posted by: Noteworthy on June 15, 2018 9:47pm These same department heads - including Jason Bartlett and Jones among others - don’t do their jobs, can’t complete projects on time and are directly responsible for the more than $30 million deficit mitigated by not paying into the pension fund, not paying other bills, misappropriating debt premiums and using future payments from Yale to cover this sorry leadership. If I was mayor, I’d fire every one of them - including the fire chief and the chief of police - two of the biggest offenders.

posted by: Ulmus Civitas on June 15, 2018 10:05pm @amdc. @newhavenishome. @everyone or anyone reading. Harp should not have the gall to run again. i would be surprised. when people get that new tax bill there will be outrage. the pot is beginning to boil. when Harp tries to raise it another 11% next year there will be pandemonium. no chance these alders or mayor can stay. we have been complacent in the past because it was just foul enough to get by. “hey, it’s politics, right?” but it was not enough to take action. now, they have overdone it. when you start stealing from people’s pensions, imposing massive year over year tax increases, give out raises to your buddies, and financially drive a city into the ground, people start to notice. VOTE THEM OUT. the people have more power than we realize. stop being duped by these scam artists…

have a great night, everyone.

posted by: Honest in New Haven on June 16, 2018 8:51am Clearly Harp is not running for re-election or she is delusional if she thinks she will win re-election. The raises are a slap in the face New Haven taxpayers! Bartlett getting another raise is just a sick joke. How can someone so incompetent earn that kind of salary? Only in New Haven when you are the Mayor’s pet. BTW, is The Escape any closer to opening?

posted by: TackyJacky on June 16, 2018 8:56am I don’t understand why anyone is surprised by this. This is business as usual for democrats, especially in cities with large populations of minority voters. This is identical to what happened in Hartford, Detroit, Baltimore, Harrisburg and the list goes on and on. Yet these corrupt city officials keep getting re-elected, the cycle is never ending. Close to 60 percent of Harpo’s voter base does not pay taxes, they either rent or are receiving some form of government assistance. They could care less about tax increases. As long as the assistance checks keep coming they will keep voting democrat. When the federal government and state governments cut funding and taxes the local officials raise taxes to make up the difference. You can’t win. The board of alders are not upset about this, the ones that voiced outrage did so just to get some publicity. They are all suck ups and would do the exact same thing if elected mayor. Harpo has given unauthorized raises in the past and nothing happened. And nothing will happen here, everyone will stop talking about it in a few days. These people have no clue of what fiscal responsibility is nor do they have a desire to learn. If Yale tripled it’s annual payment to the city from 8 million to 24 million it would not change a thing. They will just spend all of it and we would be right where we are today. When the city files for bankruptcy, Harpo and her band of thieves will be long gone, collecting full pensions for life.

posted by: FacChec on June 16, 2018 12:42pm The real culprits here in all these fau faux proposals offered by the Mayor is the BOA and it’s leadership, Tyisha Walker-Myers president, and her fellow leadership cronies on the board including Evette Hamilton Adam Marchard, Jeanette L. Morrison, Delphine Clyburn, secondary members, Delores Colon and David Reyes. Anna Festa, Santiago, DeCola, Ron Hurt, and Charles Decker. They voted unanimousLy to accept the Mayors full $547M budget and a 11% tax increase, without debate. The Mayor has the charter authority to proposal any amount of spending as long as spending is balanced by revenue, however fau-faux. The BOA on the other hand has the authority to change individual lines items and reduce the mill rate so long as the final proposed Fau-Faux budget is balanced. The BOA followed none of these provisions while scrutinizing the six section budget. The lead on this story is “Harp grants 37 raises”......Alders vow investigation.

Investigate what? You already, knowingly or unknowingly, approved the budget unanimously.

You Passed appropriation # 4 which proposed for the third year in a row, a $50M bond authorization amounting to $150M authorized to borrow for which there is no explanation for its past or present use. There has been no reporting by the controller.

You also passed a budget amendment which states the Mayor will come before the BOA before any increases are granted. You said that last year in the case of Jason Barlett, where you denied his raise in the budget, but later that year at close out you approved a resolution giving him the raise you previously denied. This is precisely the dichotomy the BOA places itself into, passing a law then proposing to second guess itself. You look damn Foolish this is just another the example of the BOA’s posture of going along and pretending it is offering leadership resistance to a budget they knew from day one, was deficit planning, spending and increasing of taxes on taxpayers who said repeatedly that the future

posted by: TheMadcap on June 16, 2018 3:39pm Annnnnd we got out first “minorities and their welfare” poster in thr comments(Bro, the rich, white parts of the city vote Democratic by gigantic margins as well)

posted by: wendy1 on June 16, 2018 7:46pm Toni is running again!!!!!! this is another kick in the head for our citizens along with these raises.

posted by: TackyJacky on June 16, 2018 8:07pm To madcap: Yes a large well to do and working class portion of residents do vote democrat. But you are missing my point. If this group of residents switched and voted republican the democrats will still win by a huge margin because of the demographics of the voting population. 80 percent of minorities vote democrat, couple that with all the renters who don’t pay property tax and it’s a guaranteed victory for the dems. It’s like running for office unchallenged and they know it. I guarantee you if Harp runs for another term she will be re-elected. If she doesn’t run another dem will be elected.

posted by: TheMadcap on June 16, 2018 10:05pm ” If she doesn’t run another dem will be elected.” Thank god. And you’re missing thr point that all of the city’s homeowners continue to vote overwhelmingly Democratic, which throws a wrench into your therory. Anyways, the field is looking bright for Elicker 2019

posted by: FacChec on June 17, 2018 7:34am Continuation- “The real culprits here” BY FacChec on June 16, 2018 12:42pm. You look foolish, this is just another the example of the BOA’s posture of going along and pretending it is offering leadership resistance to a budget they knew, from day one, was deficit planning and spending while increasing taxes on taxpayers who said repeatedly that the future of their children and grand children by their actions, is being placed in a future untenable jeopardy. Cut it out, your smoke screen is no longer cloaked from the public.

posted by: robn on June 17, 2018 8:15am I’m sick and tired of people who say “if you don’t participate in city meetings, you deserve whatever you get.” How about NO. I and every other reasonable person in town couldn’t give a damn about your city meetings, nor do we want to waste our lives attending them. We vote for people because we trust that they and the many professionals working for the city will do their jobs responsibly. Since this so evidently hasn’t been the case, I encourage voters to put aside your fondness of identity politics (“she looks like me”) and vote out all incumbents who voted for this tax increase. Don’t overthink it, just pull another lever in the voting booth.

posted by: JCFremont on June 17, 2018 8:20am If the headline read The New Haven Widget Company Top Exectutive’s has been using pension money to pay bills while raising top executive pay. What would happen to said Executives’s? Wake up fellow New Haven’ers Donald Trump is not your biggest problem!

posted by: brownetowne on June 17, 2018 8:14pm Given the state of current leadership, maybe people in NH would be comfortable voting for a New Haven Republican for at least ONE city office for the next election. I think it’s obvious that Republicans aren’t the enemy given what’s happening without ANY of them in NH government.

posted by: LookOut on June 17, 2018 8:52pm great point JCFremont - there seems to be this fixation on Trump around here when it is our local politicians that are crushing us. But, I also agree with other posters that, in our one party town, Toni will win in another landslide if she chooses to run again. I can imagine the leaders of our city - behind closed doors - laughing at us….

posted by: Bill Saunders on June 18, 2018 3:47am Robn, You are so old fashioned… these days you just fill in the proper ‘bubble’.....

posted by: ClassActionToo on June 18, 2018 8:39am Don’t know if these individuals deserve a raise or not. What I do know is that Ms. Harp/Alders should never have raised taxes by 11% this year (on top of last year’s property tax adjustment) and then shortly after raising taxes doled out these raises. This is political arrogance and taxpayer disrespect at its worst. Harp/Alders should be ashamed of themselves and voted out of office at the earliest possible time. All efforts need to be rallied to find some legal way to remove this yoke from around the necks of the good citizens of New Haven. Down with Harp and her bullying political hacktivism.

posted by: DJKsMom on June 18, 2018 8:55am I am appalled that these folks are getting raises of 10+ percent! I have been with the city for about 4 years and I have gotten 1 raise in that time and it was about 2%, which I don’t even see because the cost of my health insurance also went up. It seems the city throws money away (poinsettias every xmas that just get thrown away in a month) or misappropriates where it goes. There’s little to no opportunity for over time for most, while others literally eat it up every day and no one blinks. People triple their salary by working overtime while the rest of us scrape by. I guess that was Harps plan all along with the tax implementation.

posted by: Mawolcott on June 18, 2018 6:35pm How dare she give raises to all the top heavy personnel. What about the laborers who got 0 -2 percent raise just to have their medical raised terribly! So all of them lost money and didn’t gain a penny.

posted by: T-ski1417 on June 18, 2018 7:00pm IF THE POLICE UNION DOES NOT STEP UP THEIR GAME AT THIS POINT MILLER SHOULD GET THE HELL OUT AND TAKE THE REST OF HIS SORRY CREW. THE POLICE DEPARTMENT SHOULD “BLUE FLU” IT AND SHOW THE CITY WHAT ITS LIKE NOT TO HAVE A POLICE DEPARTMENT TO KICK AROUND.

posted by: opin1 on June 19, 2018 12:23am I’m really upset with our city leaders - the mayor, her staff, and the BOA. I don’t have the time or energy right now to list all of the reasons here - maybe another day - and others have mostly covered it. I just wanted to add my voice to the choir, that something has to change. Its awful how our city is being run.

posted by: jim1 on June 19, 2018 9:31am If you take Toni’s raise and the other 37, our taxes might just go uo 7%........