In return for his early retirement this week, the city gave C.J. Cuticello a special benefits package.
Cuticello will serve his final day as the city’s tax collector on Thursday.
News of his retirement arrangement, which includes five extra years for pension calculations, led one union leader to decry “favoritism.”
City officials defended the deal as a “business decision” that will save the city money.
Cuticello, who worked for the city for 14 years, oversaw an aggressive, controversial tax-collection program powered by the towing hook. His dedication to the program included sacrificing his own body for the job, when a fleeing tax scofflaw ran over his foot in the street (pictured). He said he intends to move on from the post to finish an MBA he’s been working toward and further his teaching career.
“I wanted to pursue other things in my life,” said Cuticello, who’s 61.
Cuticello reaped record tax collection rates, largely by implementing a new, aggressive Plate Hunter program that seizes the vehicles of tax scofflaws. Under his direction, the program hit a number of embarrassing mishaps, including continued erroneous tows of innocent taxpayers and a scandal in which a state marshal got caught calling off the tow of a politically connected reverend. As a result of that controversy, first reported here, the city reformed the program and booted marshals from scofflaw-hunting tow trucks.
The tax collector leaves amid growing tension with his boss, Mark Pietrosimone, over changes made to the program. (Click here for the Reg‘s Mary O’Leary’s account of those factors.)
Cuticello said he left the city voluntarily.
“I was not pushed out. I was not asked,” he said. “It was purely all me.” He said he was proud of his 98.61 tax collection rate, and his service to the city.
A Business Decision
Cuticello said he had been contemplating retirement for about a month. His union leader, Larry Amendola of AFSCME Local 3144, approached the city to negotiate a retirement deal.
The city agreed to a special deal that allows Cuticello to retire with full pension benefits.
In order for a member of his union to maximize those benefits, the sum of the worker’s age and number of years on the job must equal at least 80. Cuticello had 14 years of service, plus 61 years of age, plus three years of accrued sick time, totaling 78 years.
The union suggested, and the city agreed, to tack on an extra five years, two of age and three of service, to boost his pension calculation over that key threshold.
The deal leaves Cuticello with a $41,992 annual pension, according to Craig Manemeit, the city’s labor relations director.
Cuticello’s deal mirrors an early retirement package extended to workers who were let go in the latest round of layoffs, said Manemeit.
“The union came to us an asked if we would consider whether or not to give him extra service time,” he explained. “We made a business decision to give him the same benefits” as the workers who were laid off.
That golden handshake is not extended to every retiree.
“It’s not an open program for people,” explained mayoral spokeswoman Jessica Mayorga. The city decides each retirement package on a case-by-case basis, she said.
In Cuticello’s case, the deal made sense because it will prove a cost savings to the city, said Manemeit.
“We basically offered the same terms” that were extended to laid off workers, “but we evaluated it based on the amount of money we anticipated savings on the replacement of the position,” he said.
On the job, the tax collector made $88,260, which Manemeit said is the maximum of the pay range for that position. In general, the city replaces incumbent directors with someone at a lower pay grade, Manemeit said, so the city will likely end up saving money on the new tax collector.
Manemeit gave one other reason why Cuticello’s departure might amount to cost savings: a 1998 agreement that changed sick time rules. Local 3144 employees who were hired before that date get 15 sick days per year, and can cash in up to 150 sick days at the end of their careers. Workers hired after that date get only seven sick days per year and cannot accrue more than seven, he said.
“Favoritism”
Ron Hobson, president of AFSCME Local 884, blasted the deal as “favoritism.” His union represents about 500 city inspectors, school security officers, and police dispatchers, among others — seven of whom were laid off in February.
“They create special rules for special people,” said Hobson. “If they’re going to make deals with him, why not make deals for everybody?”
“Some of us call it favoritism,” he said. “That’s not right.”
“There’s nothing that precludes employees from coming to us and inquiring about [retirement deals],” responded Manemeit. “They need to go through their union.”
Local 3144’s Amendola agreed with Manemeit that early retirement is in the city’s interest because it saves the city money. He said he was able to negotiate the same extra five years of pension benefits for another worker, a foreman in the public works department, who recently retired. Amendola encouraged the city to offer the golden handshake to more workers.
“I’m hoping they open that up to everybody,” said Amendola. “They should in turn catch a lot of money.”