New Haven Independent

New Haven’s outgoing police chief, Francisco Ortiz, currently makes $108,000 per year. His salary range is capped at $115,000.

According to an ordinance amendment approved by the Board of Aldermen Monday night, a new chief could make up to $160,000.

The amendment, which passed by a vote of 23 to 5, aims to make the position “market-competitive” as the city undergoes a national search for a new commander to steer the 405-member department out of a scandal-ridden past.

The amendment didn’t specifically raise the chief’s salary, but it paved the way for that to be done: It created a new executive management salary range, from $100,000 to $160,000. The chief’s job will be placed somewhere in that range.

“The best are only going to come if the best compensation is there,” argued West River Alderman Yusuf Shah. Shah heads the finance committee, which approved the amendment by a 7 to 1 vote at a Feb. 13 hearing.

Ortiz is leaving to take a job at Yale. The national search is being done by the Police Executive Research Forum, a group of policing experts the city hired to take a fresh look at the police department in the wake of an ongoing corruption scandal. Shah said in his West River neighborhood, families affected by violent crime would not object to paying $160,000 for a high-quality candidate.

“I don’t think anybody in the City of New Haven would spare the expense of safety,” Shah said.

Five people in that very room, however, objected to the new range. Dissenting were: Aldermen Jorge Perez, Dolores Colon, Robert Lee, Alfreda Edwards and Al Paolillo.

“Throwing money at someone isn’t going to make someone a good chief of police,” argued Lee. “At the end of the day, this $160,000 is going to cost taxpayers’ money.”

Perez (pictured here) and Paolillo (pictured at top with mayoral staffer Paul Nuñez), in typical tag-team style, both got behind an amendment that would have shaved $10,000 off the top of the range.

Perez said his amendment was based on how much other Connecticut cities currently pay other chiefs of police: Bridgeport pays $115,000 and Hartford pays $145,000, for example.

East Rock Alderman Roland Lemar said the problem with Perez’s logic was that the city hopes to compete not just across Connecticut, but across the nation.

Beaver Hills Alderman Moti Sandman argued the candidate deserves higher compensation to outweigh drawbacks to the job: The candidate would likely have to relocate (without help with moving costs); would have a job guarantee of only two years; and would not be eligible for a pension for 10 years, assuming the candidate is from outside the department. (No one has applied yet from within.)

“To frankly quibble over $10,000 , It’s not worth it,” Sandman argued. Perez’s amendment failed by a vote of 12 to 16.

The full unshaven range, $100,000 to $160,000, passed by a 23 to 5 vote with one abstention.

Up next in the land of police personnel expenditures: At the board’s next meeting on April 7, aldermen will vote on a proposal to add two new assistant chiefs positions to the department, for a total of four.