Who are Newport's top municipal, school department earners? A look at salary data
Beginning in late April, the City of Newport will start putting together its biennial budget for Fiscal 2024-25, which is scheduled to be approved at the beginning of June. A large portion of the city’s General Fund is dedicated to paying the people that keep the city running: its employees.
In fact, in FY 2022-23, the city paid its non-school employees a total of $34 million and its school employees received a total of $28.9 million.
As the city approaches its new fiscal year, The Newport Daily News obtained the pay information for city employees during the most recently completed fiscal year, FY 2022-23, to see how these millions are spent.
Newport's Top 10 Earners in 2022-23
In Newport, as in many other places, the top earner is not always the employee with the highest base salary. The Fire Department and Police Department paid out $1.6 million and $1.2 million, respectively, in overtime in FY2022-23, neither of which includes earnings officers get from working special detail for non-government third parties, such as utility companies, wedding venues or special event organizers, which is paid for by the third party, rather than the city.
This is why, in FY2022-23, the top earner in the city was Sgt. Matthew Clark, who collected $46,470 in overtime and $76,323 through special detail on top of his $89,143 salary. Police Lt. Eric Barden, the second highest earner, added on top of his $91,707 base salary by collecting $37,024 in overtime and $79,542 through special detail.
FY2022-23 was also former City Manager Joseph Nicholson’s last full year of pay as the city’s top executive. Nicholson had the highest salary of any employee on payroll at $186,984. The top 10 also includes former Police Chief Gary Silva, who retired in February 2023. His gross income includes his $117,294 salary and $57,581 in severance. Retired Sgt. Jonathan Cortes, who topped the list in FY2021-22, earned $163,537 through his work in the Retired Officers Corp, which also provides special detail services.
Firefighters Michael Page and David Sarro earned their spots on the list through overtime as well. The two earned more in overtime than through their base salaries. Sarro supplemented his $75,494 salary with $85,326 in overtime, while Page added $82,948 in overtime to his $77,400 salary.
Police Uniform Patrol Sgt. Matthew Clark - $233,839.64
Police Uniform Patrol Lt. Eric Barden - $227,924.46
City Manager Joseph Nicholson - $197,088.78
Finance Director Laura Sitrin - $185,452.10
Former Police Chief Gary Silva - $175,976.30
Firefighter Michael Page - $170,784.64
Police Sgt. Stephen Carrig - $166,219.94
Firefighter David Sarro - $169,909.86
Retired Police Sgt. Jonathan Cortes - $163,537.72
Police Chief Ryan Duffy - $163,364.19
Newport's Highest Paid School Employees 2022-23
The School Department’s staff is paid through a separate budget that is funded mostly through the city’s General Fund and state aid. The difference between salary and gross pay is not as stark for school staff as it is for the city, however, some do receive additional pay on top of their base salary for extracurricular work.
Superintendent Colleen Burns Jermain - $188,303.50
NACTC Director Robert Young Jr. - $144,173.60
Director of Student Services Candace Andrade - $143,739.90
Rogers High School Principal Jared Vance - $139,399.93
Executive Director of Administration and Finance Ronald Gonsalves - $130,999.96
Pell Elementary School Principal Traci Westman - $127,642.54
Rogers High School English Teacher Nancy Noonan - $127,642.54
Thompson Middle School Principal Edward Barrios - $120,488.82
Director of English Language Learners Services Ronilee Mooney - $120,156.46
Rogers High School Reading Teacher Katharine Gardullo - $117,277.31
This article originally appeared on Newport Daily News: Newport's top earners in fiscal 23 topped by police, former city manager
