NEW OT SHOCKER
2-year overtime bill: $480G to 10 school painters

Tuesday, January 23, 2007
By EARL MORGAN
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

The custodians aren't the only ones cleaning up in the Jersey City School District, according to a review of district overtime records by The Jersey Journal.

Ten painters working for the state-run school district's maintenance department were paid nearly a half-million dollars in overtime over the past two years. During that same time period, more than $12.6 million in overtime was paid out to district maintenance employees.

The distribution of the overtime also varies widely: Three of the district's 13 union painters didn't receive any overtime in 2005 or 2006; one received $10,776.64 in overtime in 2005, but none last year. Another painter made just $5,418.09 in overtime over the two years.

The bulk of the overtime paid out went to just two of the 13 painters - John Raido and Michael Toussas. Together, they took home $181,866.45 over the two years, or more than one-third of the total amount of overtime paid out.

The list also includes Richard Zadroga - the son of state-appointed district Superintendent Charles T. Epps Jr.'s former special assistant. He received $37,657.01 in overtime in 2005 and another $14,420.14 last year. The former school bus driver makes a base salary of $48,684 a year as a painter.

His mother, Ellen Zadroga, recently retired from her school job, but remains on Epps' payroll as a $12,000-a-year legislative aide. According to campaign finance records, she also contributed $500 to Epps' Assembly campaign.

"Richard took overtime that was offered," Ellen Zadroga said. "Other painters turned it down And there were others that got more than he did in overtime."

A total of $162,427.35 was paid out to painters in overtime in 2006, while $317,806.59 was paid out in 2005. Total cost to the taxpayers: $480,233.94.

While he would not characterize the overtime as excessive, Epps said a "corrective action plan" has already been implemented by the business office, and that accounts for the nearly 50 percent drop in overtime between 2005 and 2006.

That "corrective action plan," is dated Dec. 21, 2005, according to board records. The plan faulted the district for failing to "distribute overtime in accordance with the negotiated contract with Local 2262" - the painters' union - and mandated a more fair distribution of overtime.

Last month, The Jersey Journal reported that a state audit found district maintenance workers were cleaning up in overtime payments, including one employee who got more than $163,000 in overtime during the past two years.

The review was conducted after a state audit team noticed a dramatic spike of more than $2.1 million, or 43 percent, in overtime pay in the district's maintenance department between the 2004-05 and 2005-06 school years.

Overall, overtime pay went from $5.2 million two years ago to $7.4 million last year, according to the audit. Over the last 10 years, maintenance overtime pay increased by an astonishing 426 percent, the report states.

Journal staff writer Jarrett Renshaw contributed to this report.