Supervisors get pay raises

Raises are related to job responsibility, the engineer said.
By STEPHEN SIFF
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- Supervisors at the Trumbull County Engineer's Department have been given raises ranging from 4 percent to 7 percent.
The pay increases come only weeks after settlement of a four-month contract dispute with unionized employees. They were given 4 percent raises each year of a three year contract.
Engineer John Latell approved 4 percent pay increases for the 15 managers in his department, retroactive to April 20 -- same as the pay increase negotiated by the 69 unionized employees.
On top of the 4 percent, across-the-board pay increases, Latell gave five supervisors "salary adjustments" worth an additional 1 percent. Two other top managers, administrator Rocky Riviella and deputy engineer Randy Smith, got 3 percent salary adjustments.
The salary adjustments became effective the pay period that ended last week, Latell said.
"What I did was look at the responsibilities associated with their jobs and duties," Latell said. "On top of that, they were doing a good job."
New rates: After their raises, Smith will earn $32 an hour, and Riviella will earn $27.50 an hour. They earn the highest hourly rates in the department, aside from legal counsel Donald Ford, who makes $61.74 an hour.
By comparison, in the first year of the new contract unionized workers earn from $11.73 an hour, for a janitor, to $17.10 an hour for an electrician.
Unionized employees would not be eligible for the type of unilateral salary adjustment given to supervisors, Latell said.
He said that during contract negotiations, he asked the union to consider a tiered system of raises to make salaries across the department more commensurate with job responsibility.
"They only wanted to look at everyone as a whole," he said.
siff@vindy.com