192 Portsmouth employees paid $100,000-plus in 2023: Here's list of all salaries
PORTSMOUTH — The number of city employees earning more than $100,000 in gross wages during 2023 jumped dramatically to a new record high, according to city records.
A total of 192 employees — 105 on the city side and 87 working for city schools — earned more than $100,000 during calendar year 2023. In 2022, there were 110 total employees who earned more than $100,000, according to city records.
The spike in six-figure salaries in 2023 came after the City Council voted to approve the two most recent city budgets proposed by City Manager Karen Conard.
They added about 35 new positions to the city’s payroll.
Searchable database: Salaries for all Portsmouth city side employees in 2023
The council’s approval of the Fiscal Year 2023 budget also included a 4% across-the-board pay hike for city employees.
The council approved new contracts for police and fire unions — which included raises — in the fall of 2023.
Searchable datbase: Salaries for all Portsmouth school employees in 2023
Top 10 paid employees
The top paid city employee in 2023 was Steven Cirillo, the performing arts coordinator for city schools, at $201,271. Cirillo, who has served city schools for more than 35 years, has announced he is retiring at the end of the 2023-24 school year.
Kelly Harper, the city’s human resources director, confirmed Cirillo "has been receiving payout of his leave at term." This is typical for employees in the final years of their career, inflating their pay well above their regular salary. "He also received stipends and extra-curricular pay," she said.
Conard was the second-highest paid in the city at $182,731, followed by Superintendent of Schools Zach McLaughlin at $181,334, firefighter/advanced EMT Paul McKendry at $168,102 and Police Chief Mark Newport at $165,483, according to city records.
Rounding out the top 10 were Suzanne Woodland, the city’s deputy city manager and regulatory counsel at $162,597, fire Capt. Brian Ryll at $161,932, Department of Public Works Director Peter Rice at $160,996, Judith Belanger, the city’s director of finance and administration, at $160,971 and Fire Chief William McQuillen at $160,039.
Harper said gross wages include “base pay, overtime, any contractual obligations, like education stipends or … unused vacation time, longevity, etc.”
Like in recent years, the list of employees earning more than $100,000 included department heads, deputy department heads, and about 30 employees each from the fire and police departments, including dispatchers.
High city and school salaries
On the school side, city employees earning more than $100,000 included principals, assistant superintendents, assistant principals and teachers, according to the information provided by the city.
Other high-earning employees on the city side during 2023 included police Sgt. Jordan Wells at $159,497, fire Capt. Rick Condon at $155,827, Patricia Ainsworth, the city’s new chief information officer, at $153,274, deputy public works director Brian Goetz at $151,069 and city assessor Rosann Maurice-Lentz at $140,408.
High-paid employees in the School Department included Assistant Superintendent Patrica Haynes at $155,150, Portsmouth High School Principal Stephen Chinosi at $150,777, New Franklin School Principal Joanne Simons at $146,580, Middle School Principal Phillip Davis at $146,107, School Business Administrator Nathan Lunney at $142,398 and Dondero School Principal Katherine Callahan at $140,757, according to city records.
Salaries needed to retain talent, mayor says
Mayor Deaglan McEachern said the council approved pay hikes for city employees coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The adjustments were needed, he said, “to be able to attract the kind of talent we need.”
Although Portsmouth is a small city, as McEachern acknowledged, it’s one “that relies on tourism and has a strong desire to have a great educational system and strong response times from police and fire.”
“The market dictates these wages and to be able to compete for talent, this is what is needed,” McEachern said.
The city of Portsmouth is not only competing with municipalities throughout New Hampshire to hire and retain employees, they’re also faced with competition from Massachusetts cities, he said.
Asked how taxpayers will react to 192 employees earning more than $100,000, McEachern said, “I think the number itself is a bright line for folks, maybe some of the more recent additions to the community might not be as shocked as folks like myself that grew up here.”
“The number is going to be the number,” McEachern added.
He also pointed to the city’s many “parents of school-age children who value education” and said he hopes they weigh that value “against a competitive market for talent.”
He noted too that after all the recent hiring, the council voted earlier this week to recommend that Conard not add any new positions in the FY 2025 budget unless they’re self-funded.
“That’s why we’re going to focus on not adding any additional head counts,” McEachern said.
He acknowledged that with step pay increases and cost-of-living adjustments built into union contracts, “it’s tougher to limit salaries,” than not adding new positions.
“I know we pay what the market demands in order to have the type of talent Portsmouth expects,” he said.
McEachern stressed “lost in this discussion somewhat is reducing an employee to a number.”
“It’s important to note that the folks who do the work for us could in many cases earn more in the private sector,” McEachern said. “Every employee I’ve met so far has a love for the city of Portsmouth not expressed by a number.”
City manager: Important people in important jobs
Asked about the salaries, Conard said, “it’s important for the city to remain competitive as a recruiter and retainer of important people in important jobs.
“As you can imagine, these numbers account for not only base pay, but overtime, notably for police and fire, especially in the dispatch area when we’ve been trying to staff for a protracted period of time.”
The city manager added that there’s been “some payouts for retiring individuals as well.”
Newport could not be immediately reached for comment.
Working the hours: Overtime a big factor in pay
Asked about the salaries his employees were paid in 2023, McQuillen said “the first thing I’d tell you is that these folks are earning their salaries.”
“They’re actually putting in the time and doing the work, they’re here,” he said. “Overtime isn’t just handed out to people.”
He also pointed to the new fire contracts, saying “the city had to make an investment last fall.”
“The city of Portsmouth was so far behind and couldn’t attract people and they had to pay for the sins of the past,” McQuillen said. “As a result of that, the contracts were settled and these folks got a significant adjustment that was overdue.”
He called it “imperative” that the city is able to pay the kind of salaries it is now to hire and retain valuable employees.
“The reality is the applicant pool has gotten smaller and smaller, there’s less and less people interested in doing public service,” he said.
That means Portsmouth is “competing with other area departments,” including some in the state who are paying signing bonuses to public safety workers, he said.
In terms of McKendry, the firefighter/advanced EMT who was the fourth highest paid employee in the city, the fire chief said his gross wages included more than his base pay.
McKendry’s pay also included overtime, a leave buyout because he’s retiring and the firefighter is also paid extra because he sometimes works as “the fire department mechanic,” McQuillen said.
“On his off days when he’s not a firefighter, he’s in here doing maintenance on the vehicles,” he said.
McKendry is paid a different rate for that work, and staff discovered an underpayment that led to more money being paid to McKendry this year, McQuillen said.
He noted too that overtime is often driven by the fact that like the police, firefighters cover the stations 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
And at times, he has to require people to work when no one has volunteered to fill a shift that’s open because of illness, vacation time or disability.
“That’s a phenomenon that occurs in public safety as well,” the fire chief said.
Portsmouth pays for quality, Splaine says
Former Assistant Mayor Jim Splaine, who also served on the Police Commission and School Board, weighed in on the salaries.
“I think it is important to annually survey similar jobs in other comparable cities and towns in New Hampshire and abutting states, keeping in mind Portsmouth is different and has difficult factors affecting employment — good and bad: i.e. cost of living, housing, location,” Splaine said.
“Doing that more extensively can make our pay rates and ranges more real and within reason,” he stated. “I don't think position-to-position we're too off.”
Asked if the city needs to pay police, firefighters and teachers these type of salaries to retain them, Splaine said, “Very often, yes.”
He pointed to Newport as a “good example.”
“I was on the Police Commission when we promoted him, then the following commission made him our chief,” Splaine said. “He is quality No. 1 in his field. Working with other good experienced leaders and personnel in the Police Department, he has made positive change, raising our standards, and building for an uncertain and potentially dangerous future.”
Splaine pointed out that the city will get to keep Newport “for a few more years because the Police Commission and the City Council saw that he is worth it.”
He believes that taxpayers should be proud that the city is willing to pay the salaries it does to hire and keep good employees.
“We should feel proud, and make a commitment to keep pace with, and perhaps a little ahead, of other communities,” Splaine said. “We benefit from having the best.”
He explained that public servants “and that's what all city employees do, isn't easy.”
“In many cases it's 24/7/365.”
“Many people in business or private work might not ever be in the pages of our newspapers or criticized in social media, but those in public service are,” Splaine added. “That's a lot of stress for themselves and their families. We should thank them.”
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This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Portsmouth NH salaries 2023: 192 paid $100,000 and up
