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Worcester, Massachusetts

B-
Budget Y Meetings Y Elected Officials Y Administrative Officials P Permits, zoning Y Audits Y Contracts Y Lobbying N Public records P Local taxes Y Transparency grading process

Worcester is a town in Massachusetts. According to the 2010 Census, Worcester's population reached 181, 045 people. Worcester is the county seat for the like-named Worcester County, Massachusetts. Both the county and the city are located in the middle of the state, west of Boston and north of Springfield. It is the second largest city in New England, after Boston. ^[1].

[edit] Website evaluation

• Main article: Evaluation of Massachusetts city websites

[edit] The good

• Budget documents are posted.^[2]
• The Mayor and City Council members are listed with contact information and biographies.^[3]
• Meeting schedule, agendas, minutes, and videos are posted.^[4]
• The City Manager is listed with contact information; contact information is also provided for each department, but other administrators are not listed.^[5] The City Manager's cabinet members are also listed, but without contact information.^[6]
• Audit documents are posted.^[7]
• City contracts and current bids are posted.^[8]
• Building permits and zoning information are posted.^[9][10]
• Tax documents are posted and can be paid online.^[11][12]
• Public records can be searched online, but public records law and and request forms are not provided.^[13]
• Vendor check registers can be searched.^[14]

[edit] The bad

• Lobbying information is not posted.

[edit] Elected Officials

See also:

Main article: Massachusetts state employee salary

and

Main article: Massachusetts public pensions

Worcester is governed by a council-manager government with a popularly elected mayor. A city council acts as the legislative body, and the council-appointed manager handles the traditional day-to-day chief executive functions.^[15]

[edit] City Council

Worcester's City Council consists of 10 councilors: 6 at-large members (of which the mayor is one) that are elected by the state and 5 district councilors that represent their area of the city. The members of the city council as of September 3 2011 are ^[16] :

• Joseph C. O'Brien -- Mayor and Councilor at Large
• Michael J. Germain -- at large
• Konstantina B. Lukes -- at large
• Joseph M. Petty -- at large
• Frederick C. Rushton -- at large
• Kathleen M. Toomey -- at large
• Joffery A. Smith -- District 1
• Philip P. Palmieri -- District 2
• Paul P. Clancy, Jr. -- District 3
• Barbara G. Haller -- District 4
• William J. Eddy -- District 5

As of 2011, city council representatives received a salary of $29,000 per year. ^[17]

[edit] Mayor

The mayor of Worcester also acts as a councilor-at-large. He or she is on the ballot as a councilor-at-large, and the at-large candidate with the most number of votes becomes the mayor. This means that Worcester citizens vote for their mayor twice -- once as a councilor-at-large and once more for mayor. If a councilor-at-large wishes to not be considered for the mayoral position, s/he can asked to be removed from the mayoral ballot.

The current mayor of Worcester is Joseph C. O'Brien. He is currently serving his first term, and was elected in November 2009. ^[18]

The mayor is appropriated $34,000 per year in the city's budget. ^[17]

[edit] Election Frequency

Worcester holds elections every two years, on odd years, in November. If necessary, the city holds preliminaries in September. ^[19]

[edit] Administrative Officials

Three administrative officials of note are the: city manager, city clerk, and city auditor.

[edit] City Manager

The city manager's position is to handle the traditional day-to-day chief executive functions. This manager is elected by the city council and mayor. The current city manager is Michael V. O'Brien. He was appointed by the city council in 2004. O'Brien, according to his contract with the city, is paid $193,214,24 annually. He receives a 2% pay increase every year.^[20]

[edit] Administrative Salaries

Top 10 Administrative income earners for Worcester, MA 2009 ^[21]

Rank	Last name	First name	Job title	gross pay	Regular pay	Pay detail	Quinn bill	OT	Stipend	Other pay
1	Gemme	Gary J	Chief of Police	204,425.81	156,006.70	--	24,752.80	--	500.00	23,166.31
2	Roche	Mark S	Deputy Chief of Police	189,108.58	128,521.38	22,919.36	20,853.90	1,333.98	500.00	14,973.96
3	Obrien	Michael V	City Manager	185,563.60	185,563.60	--	--	--	--	--
4	Fusaro	Giulio V.	Deputy Chief of Police	180,809.51	112,027.05	14,080.70	16,687.92	--	500.00	37,513.84
5	Sargent	Steven M.	Deputy Chief of Police	176,784.78	126,216.58	17,770.84	20,485.80	1,328.22	500.00	10,483.34
6	Sullivan	Lawrence A	Police Lieutenant	174,813.49	103,790.16	42,186.64	--	26,658.48	500.00	1,683.85
7	Theodoss	Aaron R.	Police Captain	168,659.67	110,569.56	35,217.37	--	21,384.90	500.00	987.84
8	Moylan Jr.	Robert L	Commisioner of Public Works	167,085.77	160,007.69	--	--	--	--	7,078.08
9	Feraco	Thomas A.	Police Officer	159,048.94	75,481.75	54,800.70	--	23,841.90	500.00	1,000.00
10	Fleming	Sean J	Deputy Chief of Police	158,221.78	126,873.66	--	20,485.82	--	500.00	10,362.30

[edit] Budget

Worcester 2009-2011 Budget Summary ^[22]

Revenue Summary	FY2009 Actuals	FY2010 Budget	FY2011 Budget
Property Tax Levy	197,548,896	204,752,779	214,891,24
State Aid City	53,283,169	41,575,741	39,671,768
State Aid Education	180,493,947	192,784,395	191,512,804
State Aid Charter Schools	5,412,587	4,566,823	4,447,297
State MSBA Reimbursement	17,805,421	19,129,087	15,729,151
Local Receipts	39,776,842	41,901,000	38,528,830
Other Available Funds	4,758,164	1,295,494	1,295,494
Free Cash	-	-	-
Total Revenues	499,079,025	506,005,319	506,076,587
Expenditure Summary	FY2009 Actuals	FY2010 Budget	FY2011 Budget
Fixed Costs
Pensions (and POB)	25,483,872	27,751,853	25,112,403
Health Insurance (and WC/IOD)	25,840,274	23,978,622	27,521,452
Unemployment	539,932	1,370,000	620,000
Debt (Principal and Interest)	28,924,515	29,877,721	29,909,384
Intergovernmental Charges	3,164,829	3,160,975	3,280,806
Stree tlig hts	3,074,517	1,887,828	1,887,828
Snow Removal	7,006,770	2,485,027	2,733,529
Snow Carryover	-	3,100,000	1,000,000
Five Point Plan Funding	12,058,233	12,030,263	14,919,487
Total Fixed Costs	105,642,290	106,092,941	106,984,889
Education
Worcester Public Schools	256,622,315	264,355,395	264,083,901
Charter Schools	22,937,360	23,660,337	25,110,946
Total Education	288,015,732	279,559,675	289,194,847
Expenditure Summary	FY2009 Actuals	FY2010 Budget	FY2011 Budget
City Operations
Legislative Offices	2,190,990	1,955,275	2,041,094
City Manager\'s Office	8,299,598	6,834,667	6,861,733
City Manager\'s contingency	-	1,036,916	300,000
Human Resources	1,028,392	971,481	969,958
Economic Development	2,165,491	1,192,815	1,103,991
Law	1,562,450	1,369,464	1,386,425
Fire	33,490,818	32,230,467	32,136,798
Police	40,316,851	39,047,555	38,902,032
Emergency Communications	2,598,784	2,069,135	1,998,841
Inspectional Services	3,249,102	2,901,410	2,832,148
Public Works and Parks	16,252,710	16,010,860	16,062,612
Administration and Finance	6,545,853	5,544,329	5,301,217
Enterprise Subsidy (Airport)	1,184,258	1,182,925	-
Enterprise Subsidy (Golf)	111,147
City Operations Total	118,996,444	112,347,297	109,896,851
Total Expenditures	504,649,060	506,005,319	506,076,587

[edit] Lobbying

See Also:

Main article: Masschusetts taxpayer-funded lobbying

ti

[edit] Transparency and public records

The city of Worcester does allow its public records to be searched online, but sometimes the release of public information is delayed and information redacted. In 2008, The Worcester Telegram & Gazette submitted a public records request for information on an officer Mark A. Rojas, who had been under suspicion of repeated police brutality. When the file was received, it had been heavily redacted. ^[23] The newspaper sued, and in 2010 a superior court judge ruled in their favor, saying that the four internal affairs reports could be viewed by the newspaper's lawyers, to further provide argument as to whether the documents should be made public. Ultimately, the newspaper was able to receive and use a less heavily redacted version of the documents received, two years after the original request. ^[24]

[edit] Taxes

Worcester 2009-2011 Budget Summary ^[25]

Revenue Summary	FY2009 Actuals	FY2010 Budget	FY2011 Budget
Property Tax Levy	197,548,896	204,752,779	214,891,24
State Aid City	53,283,169	41,575,741	39,671,768
State Aid Education	180,493,947	192,784,395	191,512,804
State Aid Charter Schools	5,412,587	4,566,823	4,447,297
State MSBA Reimbursement	17,805,421	19,129,087	15,729,151
Local Receipts	39,776,842	41,901,000	38,528,830
Other Available Funds	4,758,164	1,295,494	1,295,494
Free Cash	-	-	-
Total Revenues	499,079,025	506,005,319	506,076,587

As seen above, the majority of the taxes imposed on Worcester are property taxes. There are, however, personal property taxes, which can " range from chairs in a barber shop, to the inventory of a retail store, to drills used by a dentist to the street poles owned by a utility company." ^[26]

[edit] Emergency Personnel

Worcester employs its own emergency personnel: the Worcester Police Department and the Worcester Fire Department

[edit] Police Brutality

Worcester has had several instances of alleged police brutality in the past few years. Most recently, the city settled a lawsuit filed by citizen Katie Warren. She alleges that two officers -- Mark A. Rojas and Kellen Sheen ran her head into a convenience store window before arresting her falsely. The suit was settled for $80,000. ^[27]. Obtaining pubic records about this case was cumbersome and took over two years.

[edit] External links

• City of Worcester, MA official website
• Search Worchester, MA public records

[edit] References

	v • d • e State of Massachusetts Boston (capital)
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Divisions	State | List of Counties | List of Cities | List of School Districts | Evaluation of county websites | Evaluation of city websites | Evaluation of school district websites |
Government	Massachusetts State Constitution | Executive | House of Representatives | Senate |
Judiciary	Massachusetts Supreme Court | Circuit Court of Appeals | District Courts | Judicial Nominating Commission | Judicial news | Judicial activist organizations |
Ballot Measures	2008 ballot measures | List of ballot measures | State ballot report | Amending the constitution | History of direct democracy | Campaign finance requirements |