PROVIDENCE — Pushing back against a Journal records request, the company that provides staffing for the heavily taxpayer-subsidized Rhode Island Convention Center Authority is refusing to disclose the names, job titles and earnings of an estimated 1,800 employees hired directly out of "union halls."

The explanation:

As a "private company,’’ ASM Global does not believe it is obligated to disclose the basic payroll information the state’s Access to Public Records Act requires for government employees.

On Thursday, ASM Global spokeswoman Julia Sznewajs emailed this response to The Journal’s Feb. 10 request for a list of employees paid for working at the convention center, the Dunkin’ Donuts Center and affiliated garages.

"As a private company, we do not disclose detailed personnel information including compensation or personnel agreements."

"That is not appropriate,’’ said House Republican Leader Blake Filippi on Friday. "That is putting form over substance. People have a right to access those records. It’s our money going out."

"Just because they are technically employed by ASM’’ should not shield the records from public disclosure, he added. "We are still paying the bill."

The response from ASM Global leaves a big question mark on the deficit spending that has required the state to provide $20 million plus in annual operating subsidies, and a total of $28.9 million last year including money for repairs.

A statewide grand jury has subpoenaed top executives of the Convention Center Authority, along with top aides to House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello as part of an inquiry into the circumstances that led Mattiello to initiate an audit of the convention center by the legislature’s auditor general, Dennis Hoyle.

Mattiello rescinded his call for the audit after the House GOP filed a lawsuit challenging his authority to initiate the audit on his own without a required vote by a leadership committee known as the Joint Committee on Legislative Services.

The Convention Center Authority says it has only three employees: James P. McCarvill, executive director, paid $184,000 in 2019; accountant Dana Peltier, who replaced Donald Nadeau after he retired in 2019 (Peltier and Nadeau made a combined $89,011 last year); and administrative assistant Eileen Smith, who was paid $59,646 in 2019.

Together, their salaries totaled $332,658 in 2019.

Yet, personnel expenses accounted for $16.9 million of the Convention Center Authority’s $41.8 million in reported operating expenses in FY19, according to the most recent financial statement produced by the convention center’s accounting firm, Blum, Shapiro & Co.

Along with $4.5 million in "contractual services,’’ the staffing and day-to-day management of the convention center properties represents more than 50% of the RICCA’s operating expenses.

The properties are an employment hub for a number of unions, including Locals 23 and 830 of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees; Unite Here Local 26 (food and beverage workers at the convention center); UA Local 51 (plumbers/HVAC); IBEW Local 99 (electricians); Local 271 of the Laborers International Union of North America; and LIUNA Local 1322 (parking).

A recent study pegged the employment number at 1,800 in 2017.

When asked more recently how many people receive paychecks for working at the Convention Center, the Dunk and the Vets, convention center general manager Lawrence Lepore told The Journal: "The number of employees is determined on an event-by-event basis through each Union Hall."

Elaborating Friday on her earlier statement, Sznewajs said:

"ASM Global employs 125 full-time personnel, both union and non-union at the Convention Center, Dunk and associated garages. The rest are part-time event or casual labor on an as needed basis....The Vets is operated by a separate management company."

"We take our responsibilities to both our employees and the Authority very seriously, working with counsel to ensure we are fully compliant with all requirements. Our workers at the Convention Center and the Dunk are private company employees of ASM Global,’’ she added.

According to the accountants, SMG, the convention center management company that merged into ASM Global last fall, contributes to "several union sponsored, multi-employer defined benefit pension plans.

"The potential risks include ... the use of SMG contributions to provide benefits to employees of other participating employers."

"It is [also] possible that the Authority could be responsible for funding the unfunded pension obligations attributable to SMG’s labor force, past and present, who are beneficiaries of [the] union-sponsored multi employer defined benefit plans."

With only $30 million in operating revenues, the convention center logged an $11.7-million operating loss last year. When that is added to $9.8 million in required debt payments, the gap grows.

The accountants describe the RI Convention Center Authority as "a public corporation ... created by the General Assembly ... [and] a component unit of the state for financial reporting purposes."

The state has historically provided names, job titles and earnings of state-paid employees provided by outside companies.

As an example, the state famously paid the equivalent of $102,858 a year — including a 145.99% markup and a guaranteed 10% profit — to the private company that supplied a "typist'' to the Department of Transportation control center that provides traffic updates on radio and billboards.

DOT identified the typist, who at $18.35 an hour made the equivalent of $38,181 a year. The other $64,690 went to the company that employed her, Vanasse Hangen Brustlin Inc., for "overhead'' and "profit.''

She was just one of 36 named employees that the Watertown, Massachusetts-based engineering consulting company at one time provided the DOT.

kgregg@providencejournal.com

(401) 277-7078

On Twitter: @kathyprojo