Ansonia Republicans want to change the way the town clerk is paid, saying the current system lacks accountability, transparency, and is ripe for abuse.
The Ansonia town clerk is paid a base salary of roughly $28,000, but she is also allowed to take home a percentage of the fees collected by the office on items such as marriage licenses and birth certificates.
In Ansonia, the city government does not seem to have a firm grasp on how much money Town Clerk Madeline Bottone or Assistant Town Clerk Beth Lynch take home in fees, despite a state law saying town clerks are supposed to provide detailed reports to local legislative bodies.
Nor is the town clerk’s office stepping forward to clarify the situation, saying the manner in which the system is set up shields the info from public disclosure.
Bottone is retiring as Ansonia Town Clerk at the end of the month. Lynch was elected Nov. 5.
The town clerk issue has been percolating in the city for months. Critics said the percentage of the fees collected by the town clerk goes unsupervised and undetailed — and no one keeps precise records on the amount she takes home from her cut of the fees.
Former City Comptroller Joseph Miller brought it to the attention of a charter revision commission early this year, according to meeting minutes online.
Miller noted the “great deal of money that she collects during a given year” and recommended paying the clerk a flat salary, with the fee money going into the city’s general fund.
That’s the system in place in the vast majority of municipalities.
At a charter revision meeting in May, Bottone said she donated $100,000 from fees she collected to purchase an index of land records system for the city. Members of the Charter Revision Commission wondered aloud if such a compensation system made for efficient government, but ultimately took no action to explore it further.
The article continues after minutes of the Charter Revision Commission’s May meeting. The discussion of the clerk’s office begins on page 2.
Charter Revision May 2013 by ValleyIndyDotOrg
Now the town clerk’s pocketing of fees has been the subject of three separate meeting since Dec. 10, when newly-elected Mayor David Cassetti said the compensation system was antiquated and confusing.
Cassetti said he had “learned of the existence” of a bank account controlled by the town clerk — and the town clerk alone — containing about $300,000.
“This account has never been included in the city budget,” Cassetti said. “It is my understanding that these funds represent an accumulation of fees taken in by the town clerk over the past decade.”
Cassetti then said the account was under examination so city officials could “determine the correct course of action.”
Click the play button below to see Cassetti’s statement. Article continues after the video.
Power Struggle?
Later in the Dec. 10 Aldermen meeting, Lynch, the incoming town clerk, requested any discussion of town clerk matters be discussed in executive session, a closed-door meeting allowed in certain cases, such as when discussing a specific employee.
Lynch’s contention was backed up by Kevin Blake, Ansonia’s outgoing corporation counsel.
It was a curious statement, to say the least, because the state’s Freedom of Information Act clearly states executive sessions can be used if a specific employee is being discussed. The Aldermen were talking about the position, not the person.
The Aldermen talked briefly about the position in public but took no official action on the matter.
On Dec. 11, the Valley Indy followed up on the Aldermen discussion by interviewing Bottone in an effort to shed more light on the issue. A reporter asked Bottone how much she earned per year as an Ansonia elected official.
During the course of the day, Bottone first said she would have to discuss the issue with the mayor, then said she would have to discuss it with her lawyer.
On a reporter’s third visit to her office to ask about her pay and for details of how the fees she takes in are divvied, Bottone gave the Valley Indy an estimate of her income — but said she wasn’t obligated to release specific information about the hundreds of thousands of dollars in fees that flow through her office yearly.
FOI?
The state also gets a cut of the fees paid by people who use the town clerk’s office. Bottone says she prepares monthly reports she sends to the state summarizing how much her office collects in fees and what portion of the money goes to Hartford.
The Valley Indy Dec. 11 requested Bottone provide a reporter a copy of her reports, which are public documents. She said she could not provide copies because she was behind on completing them because of a heavy meeting schedule.
In addition, a state law on the books since 1980 says clerks also have to provide an annual yearly accounting of what happens to all the money they collect in fees to the legislative body of their municipalities — in Ansonia’s case, the Board of Aldermen.
The Valley Indy asked for that report as well, but on Dec. 12, Lynch said Bottone did not have to produce the report because the state law the Valley Indy referenced doesn’t apply to the Ansonia Town Clerk’s office.
“That’s for someone who receives a salary in lieu of fees, that doesn’t pertain to her, that statute,” Lynch said. “She receives a salary and fees.”
Bottone agreed with Lynch.
The Valley Indy submitted a Freedom of Information request for the records, asking that the explanation for the denial be put in writing.
Andy Thibault, a former member of the Freedom of Information Commission and a columnist who writes about FOI issues, said the situation in Ansonia gives off “a strong odor of something out of whack.”
How the public’s money is spent is not supposed to be kept secret from the public.
He said any member of the public should have immediate access to information about any money going into the clerk’s office.
“The records of all financial transactions are public records because it’s public money, so they have to record what’s coming in, what’s going out, and where it goes,” he said. “Unless they pay her through a cookie jar or something.”
“You should be able to look at those records immediately and they have no legal reason to hide those records,” Thibault said.
Peeling The Onion
After a discussion among the Aldermen Dec. 10 and a separate discussion in front of the Aldermen’s “salary committee” Dec. 12, Richard Bshara, the city’s acting comptroller, was able to shed some light on the clerk’s annual take-home pay on Dec. 13.
He said Bottone’s W2 for the last three calendar years showed Ansonia taxpayers paid Bottone roughly $76,000 yearly.
Of those totals, roughly $28,000 represented the salary paid to her, according to city budget documents.
The rest would have been taken out of the fees her office receives, Bshara said.
In the same period, Lynch received roughly $67,000 in 2010, $65,000 in 2011, and $67,000 in 2012, Bshara said.
Of those totals, about $27,000 represented her city salary, and the rest would have been paid to her by Bottone, out of the fees collected by the office.
The clerk’s office also has a city records administrator and a clerk who are paid roughly $46,000 and $45,000 directly by the city.
What’s With That $300,000?
While the town clerks haven’t been transparent with a reporter representing the public, they have been more forthcoming with fellow public officials.
Fran Teodosio, the city’s outgoing labor attorney, told the Board of Aldermen’s salary committee Thursday (Dec. 12) that Bottone considers the $300,000 bank account she controls as her retirement money.
Myriad state statutes spell out how much clerks should charge for various fees and licenses, Teodosio said, and what portion of those fees have to go to the state or other entities.
Whatever is left over goes to Bottone, Teodosio said.
“Madeline considers the money that’s still there her retirement,” Teodosio said. “It’s not good accounting, I’m just telling you what she’s thinking.”
But Teodosio urged the mayor and the newly-elected Aldermen looking into the matter to tread lightly.
“The mayor’s office can’t walk in and draw that money,” Teodosio said. “Only Madeline can draw that money.”
Bshara said the town clerk before Bottone, Florence Hoinski, who retired in 1997, had an IRA through the city.
“Florence used to put money in in a separate IRA for her retirement,” Bshara said. “Madeline has no retirement … when she became town clerk, elected officials, I don’t believe, were allowed to be part of it.”
Bshara said no one is clear as to who the $300,000 belongs to.
“Is it the city’s or is it not the city’s? What we have is just a hybrid system that needs to be updated,” he said.
In past reviews, the city’s auditors have pointed out problems with the current system, but the city never addressed the issue.
No one can say for sure just how much of the fees Bottone kept for herself over the years above the $300,000, Cassetti told Aldermen about last week.
Reaction
The new Republican regime in Ansonia was quick to point out no one is accusing the town clerk’s office of malfeasance — but the compensation system obviously needs to be examined, at least to ensure accountability in Ansonia City Hall.
“Madeline didn’t create this system, Beth didn’t create this system, the system predates all of them,” said John Marini, a former Alderman who is now the city’s corporation counsel.
“As far as I’m concerned the system is just begging for abuse. It’s the kind of system that is asking for fraud. Luckily I think we’ve had good people who didn’t abuse the system, but i don’t see any reason for the system to continue like this,” he said.
The Republicans rode into office promising lower taxes and more efficient government.
The fact there’s a bank account with $300,000 in it that can only be accessed by the town clerk is troubling, Marini said — as is the fact the town clerk’s office hasn’t been giving detailed reports on fees collected and the percentage she takes from them.
The town clerk’s compensation system in place now lacks oversight and creates “a breeding ground for fraud,” said David Blackwell, a Seventh Ward Republican Alderman elected last month.
“I just don’t believe it’s right,” Blackwell said. “The public deserves to know where the money’s going.”
The mayor’s office issued a press release late Tuesday saying the town needs to change its policy and that the town clerk should no longer get a cut of fees. The city needs to be more transparent in its finances, Cassetti said.
Bill Luneski owns L2 Innovate, a computer sales and repair shop on Main Street. He served on the city’s charter revision commission, where the issue was first raised.
Luneski, who is not a member of any political party, said the way the system is set up now lacks proper oversight, and at a time when taxes are going up, the city should be as transparent — and careful with money — as it can be.
“We’re thin right now,” he said. “We have some good possibilities downtown, but they haven’t happened yet. Until they do we’ve got to look at every dollar. I run my business that way. I can’t afford luxuries, I can’t afford waste, and that’s how I stay afloat.”
While not taking a stance on the issue, Joyce Mascena, Glastonbury’s town clerk and the president of the Connecticut Town Clerk’s Association, said the system Ansonia uses was once popular, but has all but disappeared.
“I don’t know what drove the change,” Mascena said. “Maybe it was just a fact of ethics. If you’re removed from (paying yourself through fees), then there’s less likelihood that you have the urge to fool around with anything.”
The vast majority of Connecticut municipalities pay flat salaries for town clerks.
“I can only guess why, but the fees in the town clerk’s office are substantial,” Mascena said. “Last year I took almost $900,000 in. And in the high years I was in the millions. So I could see why a town would maybe not want to do it.”
The Ansonia clerk’s office doesn’t collect anywhere near as much money, as the following document provided by Bottone to the Charter Revision Commission, showing how much money her office took in in fees from 2009 to part of 2013, shows.
But the fees still add up to hundreds of thousands of dollars per year, even in tough economic times.
What Will The New Town Clerk Be Paid?
Aldermen have spent the last week laying the ground work to change the system.
“Within several weeks a decades old compensation system will bite the dust, all to the benefit of Ansonia’s taxpayers,” Marini said.
The Board of Aldermen’s salary committee met Monday (Dec. 16) to set an annual salary — without fees — for Lynch, the incoming town clerk.
Lynch attended with her lawyer, John Sponheimer.
Sponheimer initially asked Aldermen to consider a salary in the range of $75,000 to $80,000.
Fifth Ward Alderwoman Joan Radin noted that clerks of many similar-sized towns have salaries in the $60,000 range — and that Ansonia isn’t exactly rolling in money.
“Ansonia’s paying a 39 mill rate this year and if we tell the people that we’re starting a salary of $90,000 or $70,000 or $80,000, whatever you’re talking about, there’s going to be a very lot of unhappy people in this town, including me,” she said.
Blake, Ansonia’s outgoing lawyer, noted Derby’s clerk makes about $76,000.
“We’re Ansonia, we’re not Derby,” Radin shot back.
Click the play button below to see discussion between Sponheimer and Aldermen on the salary committee.
After that discussion, Blackwell suggested compromising at $72,000, noting that Lynch, unlike Bottone, already has a retirement account set up through the city.
He said he also hoped Lynch may promote one of her subordinates to the assistant clerk’s position she currently holds. By not filling the resulting vacancy, the city might be able to save some cash, he said.
Sponheimer called the $72,000 figure “fair,” but said he had hoped Aldermen might have been “a little fairer.”
The Aldermen on the salary committee then approved the $72,000 rate unanimously.
The Aldermen’s ordinance committee met Tuesday (Dec. 17), where they unanimously passed a resolution calling for the town clerk’s position to “become a salaried position with the annual salary to be fixed by the Board of Aldermen.”
The new ordinance also says: “all fees and commissions paid to the town and city clerk shall be forwarded to the town treasurer for deposit into the general fund account of the City of Ansonia.”
Marini said during the meeting that the city’s charter already calls for the fees collected to be deposited into the general fund, but said the new ordinance was drafted as a reaction to “years and years and years of really, an incorrect practice.”
“If you read the charter and you read the code we already have a system where the town clerk should give the money to the city,” he said.
The recommendations now go to the Board of Aldermen, who are scheduled to have a special meeting Thursday (Dec. 19).
Still up in the air — just what will happen to the $300,000 bank account Bottone has accumulated over the years.
Marini said Monday that the city needs to do more research on the account before deciding how to proceed.
“Our mission is essentially to answer all the questions. When the questions are answered obviously it’ll all be available publicly,” he said. “We’re just scrambling to try to get the information because unfortunately a lot of it is in that account, which the city has actually had no ability to get into.”
