Several months after a resident suggested during a Board of Finance meeting that the town create a database so taxpayers could review the salary details of every town employee, Finance Director Robert Tait presented the report to the Legislative Council January 21.

First Selectman Pat Llodra told the council that virtually every public document generated through her office “is likely to find its way to the [town] website.”

“We really make that commitment in our office and I know the council and the Board of Finance agree with that — full transparency,” Mrs Llodra said. “As much as we can get out there, we want to get out there. We don’t hold back on any documents at all.”

Mr Tait told the council he wanted to make the annual salary report as short and simple as possible considering the massive amount of data it contains. The report ranks staff positions and their corresponding salary figures from highest to lowest, and in cases where multiple staffers all share the same salary, those in the positions are grouped.

The finance director said all salaries are mirrored in the detailed selectmen’s budget summary and the report also details overtime and benefit budgets. Mr Tait also noted that the town’s payroll system is apparently not easily programmed to publish this type of report.

In previous meetings, the finance director reported how a relatively new, shared software system that was originally being used by just the school district had several sorting and report generating shortcomings.

Councilman George Ferguson asked about the limitations in functionality in the payroll software, and Mr Tait said that he was already planning to research new, more robust software for integration in the coming years.

Besides the finance director who is ranked in the tenth position and earns $141,638, the top 25 salary positions are under the Board of Education and led by Superintendent Joseph V. Erardi, Jr, at $195,000. The next highest municipal salary after the finance director is the town engineer whose position is posted at $115,427; followed by the police chief at $113,850; and the first selectman at $104,484.

The school district also encompasses the 139 lowest paid positions in town, those of educational assistants who earn $13,166 each in regular salary. The lowest compensated municipal position is a part-time administrative staffer whose salary is listed at $19,033.

Overtime budgets for the 2014-15 fiscal cycle are listed as follows:

*Emergency Communications — $95,000

*Police — $140,000

*Highway — $45,000

*Transfer Station — $11,000

*Public Building Maintenance — $11,000

*Parks & Recreation — $53,000

*School District Maintenance and Grounds — $78,000

*Custodial — $114,000

Newtown employees pay cost sharing for medical benefits in the range of nine to 25 percent depending on their union contract or nonunion arrangement.

According to the report, the average single town employee pays $9,372 annually for benefits; the average two-person family pays $22,500; and the average family pays $25,464.

The town contributes about five percent of eligible municipal employees’ base salary for pension benefits, the employee contributes two percent. Teachers participate in a state pension plan and the town pays no contributions. Participating educators pay 7.25 percent of their base pay toward that program, with the state funding the remaining amount, the report states.