ASHTABULA — In an e-mail sent to the city’s payroll department Friday, the city solicitor reiterates he is deferring a pay raise and agreeing to reduce his pay to 5 percent below the amount he was being paid prior to Dec. 1, 2009.
City Solicitor Michael Franklin would be reimbursed only the amount of his raise from Jan. 1, 2011, on forward, unless the city’s financial difficulties continue. In that case, he is amenable to deferring it until the end of his term of office, he said.
“I’m not in public service for the money,” he said.
With the voluntary pay cut, Franklin’s annual salary is $68,434 through Dec. 1, according to city records. He made $72,036 in 2008, and since coming into office, he has given up the city solicitor’s car, cell phone and office allowance, he said.
If the city’s finances had been on track, Franklin would be taking home about $76,000 a year, he said.
City Auditor Michael Zullo, who is one of six City Hall employees who recently took a 10 percent pay cut to help the city make up a $862,000 budget shortfall, was surprised at the solicitor’s move.
“I’m surprised and disappointed (at Franklin’s deferment),” Zullo said.
Franklin said there was never any question about what he planned to do. He produced a Feb. 26, 2010, memo addressed to the city’s payroll and human resources specialist Carolyn Sheldon, which reads: “I agree to defer the balance of the raise I received on Dec. 1, 2009, until the first pay after Jan. 1, 2011.”
Last month, after City Council members agreed publicly to take 10 percent pay cuts, Council Vice President Betty Kist asked Franklin and City Manager Anthony Cantagallo during a televised meeting whether they would take a similar pay cuts.
Franklin said, “Yes,” he would; Cantagallo responded he would “take it under advisement.”
On Wednesday, Cantagallo told a radio audience he would take a 10 percent pay cut and return his 3.5 percent raise by 4:30 p.m. that day, but he didn’t do it, Zullo said. As of 4:30 p.m. Friday, he still hadn’t done it, but Sheldon said the manager did call her Friday to obtain a copy of the city solicitor’s payroll ordinance.
While the six City Hall employees toted home lighter paychecks Friday, and city firefighters and police have reined in overtime, Cantagallo continues to make $75,369 a year and recently accepted a 3.5 percent raise. Cantagallo recently told a Cleveland TV station he wants pay concessions from the city’s union employees before taking a pay cut.
The six employees who have taken pay cuts, according to city records, are: Zullo, deputy auditor Karen Jury, Treasurer Lori Mackey, Clerk of Council LaVette Hennigan, city income tax administrator Marge Pavolino and systems analyst Charlene Pfouts.
Ward 2 Councilman August Pugliese said it’s time the city manager follows suit.
Hennigan said, “I share in Council President (Charles) Brockway’s request that we all be civil one with another — coupled with my desire that all things be done ‘decently and in order.’”
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