VBPD BIG PAYCHECKS

VBT Police Officers take
home big paychecks in 2008

By Rosemary K. Otzman

Independent Editor

Many members of the Van Buren Township police department carried home hefty paychecks in 2008, with five making more than $100,000 each.

The Independent used the Freedom of Information Act to request the pay of all employees for the year that just ended.

The top 25 wage earners are police officers, with the exceptions of #9, Dispatcher/Fire Fighter David McInally ($98,152.26) and #13, Bryce Kelley, who was director of planning and economic development until his resignation in late November, ($90,730.97).

Topping the list of employees is Detective Marc Abdilla who brought home $132,974.29, which is more than the state of Michigan's top cop.

Col. Peter C. Munoz, director of the Michigan State Police, earns $129,842.

Attorney General Mike Cox is paid $124,900, the same as Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land.

The top-25 paid employees for 2008, as reported by the Van Buren Township Clerk's Office were:

1. Marc Abdilla $132,974.29

2. Ken Floro $124,312.21

3. Greg Laurain $116,931.21

4. Ken Brooks $111,494.44

5. Mark Buckberry $100,631.59

6. Gerald Champagne $99,700.04

7. Robert Greene $98,888.07

8. Louis Keele $98,236.66

9. David McInally $98,152.26

10. Michael Moening $97,387.87

11. Ryan McCormick $96,819.86

12. Fred Yono $91,068.25

13. Bryce Kelley $90,730.97

14. Jeffery Gueli $89,287.09

15. Alexander Schulz $88,219.20

16. Kenneth Toney $86,466.72

17. Dennis Brooks $85,363.88

18. Ernie Thornsbury $84,898.04

19. Michael Papin $83,870.23

20. James Miller $83,841.30

21. Bart DeVos $83,841.30

22. Mark Buxton $80,320.79

23. Chris Valinski $79,068.82

24. Christopher Hayes $78,468.71

25. Keith Smyth $78,430.88

Former Supervisor Cindy King was #27 at $77,590.97 in salary for the year.

The records show that many of the large paychecks carry big overtime pay – and then there is the additional blended pay for the seven police officers who also serve as fire fighters.

The nine on-call fire fighters, who work other full-time jobs for the township (seven are police officers, one an ordinance officer, and one a dispatcher) earn 30% of the total fire department budget of $840,000 for on-call fire fighter pay.

Detective Abdilla, for example, has police base pay of $53,204.56 ($26.96/hr.) and adds to that Police Officers Labor Council negotiated double time of $11,196.70 ($53.96/hr.) and overtime of $14,953.67 ($40.47/hr.).

In addition, he got $38.123.98 as a fire fighter, with his fire pay ranging from $38.56 per hour to $44.54 per hour.

According to the township report, Abdilla worked 2,927 hours as a police officer and 972 hours as a fire fighter for a total of 3,899 hours working for the township in 2008, about 75 hours a week for 52 weeks.

Police Lt. Ken Floro, #2, is another police officer/fire fighter. He earned $83,456.81 at his police job and another $40,855.40 at his fire job, at a blended per-hour rate for a total of $124,312.21.

Lt. Floro has a base police pay of $53,219.32 and overtime of $7,680.21.

He makes $45.06 per hour on a fire duty crew assignment of 12 hours, working next to regular fire fighters who get $17.65 per hour.

Acting Fire Chief Ronald Folks earned $32,188.39 in 2008.

Greg Laurain, #3, and Ken Brooks, #4, are police captains and their big paychecks came from overtime.

Captain Laurain had a base pay of $71,209.53, with $25,666.71 overtime pay, plus other fringes. He worked a total of 2,789 hours in 2008, which averages out to 53.6 hours a week for 52 weeks.

Captain Brooks had a base pay of $74,764.62 plus $20,082.70 in overtime pay, and other fringes. He worked a total of 2,700.75 hours, which averages out to 51.9 hours a week for 52 weeks.

Mark Buckberry is the fifth officer to make more than $100,000 in 2008. His base pay was $58,936.16 ($30.76/hr.) and he made $25,184.75 in overtime pay, $6,064.92 in holiday pay, $4,490.96 in vacation pay, and $1,168.88 in vacation payout, plus other fringes.

There were 193 employees on the list – everyone who received a paycheck from the township in 2008 -- with the nine fire fighters who have other full-time township jobs having two employee numbers, so employees are technically at 202. This includes the part time workers and members of commissions who get paid.

The total township payroll for 2008 was $7,912,347.69.

Full-time police officers were budgeted a total of $3,287,169 for pay in 2008. On-call fire fighters were budgeted $840,000.

As of Jan. 1, the members of the Michigan Association of Firefighters union local got a 3% raise; the Police Officers Labor Council – Patrol Unit got a 3.25% raise; and the POLC--Command Unit got a 3.25% raise, plus a percentage for rank.

Abdilla is president of the POLC – Patrol Unit local and Lt. Dennis Brooks is president of the POLC – Command Unit.

At the Dec. 16 meeting of the township board, Public Safety Director Jerry Champagne emphasized that officers do not decide to go on overtime on their own and all overtime is authorized by supervisors.

"In the four years I've been here, we have not found one instance of abuse," Champagne said of the overtime.

Excessive police overtime
pay under scrutiny in VBT

By Rosemary K. Otzman
Independent Editor

   Van Buren Township Supervisor Paul White said one of his top priorities is cutting overtime pay in township departments, with the goal of making responsible use of taxpayers' dollars.
   "I have challenged every director to cut their overtime," he said Saturday in a telephone interview.
   He said DPW Director Todd Knepper is working on it, Building and Economic Development Deputy Director Dan Swallow has reduced overtime to zero, and Recreation Director Bruce Ross and Senior Director Linda Combs have almost no overtime.
   The problem lies with excessive police department overtime and Supervisor White said last week he asked Public Safety Director Jerry Champagne to come up with an action plan to analyze usage of overtime and find ways to reduce it.
   White said Champagne presented his action plan on Friday. Champagne's plan said he and his captains will monitor the overtime on a daily basis.
   That is exactly what White had suggested.
   At the Dec. 16 township board meeting when White was addressing excessive overtime in the police department he said he may ask for a daily overtime report instead of the bi-weekly report he receives to see if some of the overtime can be contained.
   In Friday's report to the supervisor, Champagne also said police presence at the annual fireworks takes a lot of overtime, but he would not recommend lowering the staffing of the event because something like what happened in Belleville could happen at the fireworks.
   He refers to a 2007 incident at the Belleville Strawberry Festival where a large number of boisterous teens were funneled out onto West Columbia Avenue after the carnival closed early for the night and the teens blocked traffic, banged on cars, tussled with each other, and terrorized the residential neighborhood.
   Champagne suggested the Recreation Department might be able to get funding from a donor to pay for the police coverage of the fireworks.
   The township's annual fireworks show in late June is financed through a $10,000 grant from Waste Management landfill and designated for a Van Buren Township "cultural event."
   Champagne also suggested that he could cut out some of the officer training which leads to overtime to fill in for those taking classes.
   Champagne stated that the police overtime should be reduced in 2009 because the new officers will have been trained.
   At the Dec. 16 meeting, White said he wants to have a well-rounded township with recreation and senior services, so the upward spiral in police costs has to be closely monitored.
   He said he doesn't want to end up with all the money in the budget going for police, with nothing for anything else.
   In the summer of 2007, voters approved 4 mills for public safety, and the 4 mills are expected to bring in $4,320,000 in 2009.
   The total public safety budget for 2009 is $6,165,434. The difference of $1,845,434 comes from landfill income and the general fund.
   Voters approved an additional mill, going from the expiring 3 mills to 4 mills, at an additional tax of about $100 per year per residential property, because of promises made by Champagne as to how that money would be spent.
   Promises included staffing both new fire stations 24/7, and Champagne said that has been done, with a few lapses when fire fighters aren't available for duty crew assignments.
   He had promised to hire nine new officers, but he said the previous board only allowed him to hire eight. He said he filled only six out of eight positions and planned to hire a seventh officer in January.
   He said Supervisor White asked him to hold off on hiring the eighth officer because of budget concerns.
   "My biggest concern is that we may not have $15 million in revenue next year," Supervisor White said, referring to the current general fund budget, "and I do not want to hire an officer to work for 6 to 8 months and then lay him off."
   Champagne said the new Special Investigative Unit is not fully in operation and has only two officers and the five-zone patrol is not in effect. Both the SIU and the five zones were promised to voters to get them to approve the millage.
   At the Dec. 16 meeting, Supervisor White said he had serious concerns with police overtime, since the two-week police pay period before that meeting had $12,509 in overtime.
   White said later that the two-week period following the Dec. 16 meeting had more than $14,000 in police overtime, with the overtime numbers going up instead of down.
   At the Dec. 16 meeting, Champagne explained that there were four homicides in 2008 and the officers work the Golden 48 hours to try to solve them, incurring a lot of overtime.
   Later he identified the homicides as the Bryant shooting in July at Hidden Cove apartments following a fight at the pool, the Generazio hit-and-run accident on Rawsonville Road in September, the Jackson shooting at Pine Creek golf club in October, and the Frances Cothern murder/arson on Bemis Road in November.
   The Bryant and Cothern homicides were solved the same day or the next day; the Generazio hit-and-run was solved within a few days when the driver turned himself in; and the Jackson shooting remains unsolved.