He was making a point.
Shelton Mayor Mark Lauretti said as much in an interview last week with the Valley Indy.
Members of the Board of Aldermen Finance Committee confirmed it Tuesday, when they dismissed a proposal to give Lauretti a salary bonus.
They instead used their meeting to call out the Board of Education for awarding Superintendent Freeman Burr a $10,000 bonus in a year when teachers had to be laid off.
“The finance committee has learned that the reason this request was made by the mayor was to highlight the use of a $10,000 bonus by the Board of Education and to question the validity and logic of such practice,” board President John Anglace said, reading from a prepared statement.
“We agree that this issue deserves more public attention,” Anglace said.
The issue is with the bonus and sick leave, Anglace said.
It “is not about the superintendent’s performance,” Anglace said. “In fact we support the job he is doing and applaud the Board of Education for their good judgment in picking such a qualified individual.”
Read Anglace’s prepared statement below. Article continues after the document.
‘Where Was the Outrage?’
The bonus proposal has drawn intense interest since the item was placed on the Board of Aldermen agenda for its January meeting. Residents have debated the meaning behind it.
Lauretti said that interest is personal, because people didn’t get worked up when the $10,000 bonus was approved for Burr.
Click the video above for Lauretti’s response, which includes the mayor discussing a federal investigation targeting Shelton.
The superintendent’s bonus was part of his contract upon being hired last year, according to Board of Education chairman Tim Walsh, who was not at the meeting Tuesday.
The Board of Education in December voted to active the “incentive” after it determined Burr met the goals the board set when he was hired.
“That contract didn’t come up this year,” Walsh said, when reached by phone Tuesday evening. “It was a year ago, when he was initially hired.”
Walsh pointed out that the Board of Education negotiated the contract when it was led by a Republican chairman.
Walsh is a Democrat. Lauretti is a Republican.
The topic didn’t come to light until Lauretti began his own bonus discussion.
Walsh defended the $10,000 payment to Burr, which went toward an annuity and wasn’t paid out in cash, according to Walsh.
“It was built into his contract,” Walsh said. “We set certain things for him to achieve, and he achieved them.”
Some of those things — such as reorganizing central office — have saved the district money, Walsh said.
Walsh said the bonus discussion is Lauretti’s way to prepare a budget battle and “disparage” the Board of Education.
“I think what they’re doing is trying to set the stage for budget hearings that are going to be upcoming,” Walsh said. “They’re trying to disparage the Board of Education and the administration as much as they can.”
Financial Questions
The bonus isn’t the only piece of the puzzle. Lauretti has also questioned the Board of Education on money it had left over after last fiscal year. The money, an auditor explained this month, wasn’t exactly unused.
The Board of Education just hadn’t finished paying for items it budgeted for during the year — a different accounting practice from the city.
After a meeting to discuss the city’s audit, Lauretti said his concerns will likely translate to budget season.
“If it takes a year and a half to spend the money, they don’t need that money,” Lauretti said. “These are tough times.”
Walsh on Tuesday defended the Board of Education, and threw the questions back toward the city, asking why city departments give back money each year.
“It’s out there. It’s appropriated,” Walsh said. “They’re not allowed to spend it all.”
Personal
Lauretti said his critics have used his bonus ploy as a way to continue to “disparage” his reputation.
“People try to distort the fact, and focus on an FBI investigation for eight years,” Lauretti said Tuesday, referring to a federal corruption investigation in Shelton.
Through a trial for Shelton developer James Botti, federal prosecutors have named Lauretti as the target of the investigation, but have never charged him with anything.
Lauretti maintains he has done nothing wrong.
