Silver Shield Association Inc. (SSA) represents police officers, technicians, sergeants and lieutenants.

American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), Council 4, Local 1303-222, AFL-CIO represents school health nurses in the town’s public school system and public health nurses in the town’s Health Department.

Greenwich Municipal Employees Association Inc. (GMEA) repre-sents town and Board of Education employees in clerical and admin-istrative classifications.

Laborer’s International Union of North America (LIUNA), Local 136, AFL-CIO represents town and Board of Education employees in professional and supervisory classifications.

Board of EducationGreenwich Teachers

AssociationGreenwich Organization

of School AdministratorsLIUNA Local 136

Para-Professionals

Greenwich’s unionsMunicipal employees are represented by one of the following collective bargaining units:

Local 456 International Brotherhood of Team-sters (IBT) represents town and Board of Education employees in blue collar, trades and foreman clas-sifications and certain nursing classifications at the town’s nursing home, the Nathaniel Witherell.

Local 1042 International Association of Firefighters (IAFF), AFL-CIO repre-sents all uniformed professional fire-fighters and officers except the chief and assistant chief.

BOyS LACrOSSE

GHS suffers defeat at the hands of rye

LABOr dEAL

Long-term state budget woes solved? A5

THE dISH

Soap opera star stops in Glenville A2

ONLy IN PrINT

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Battle over

Benefits

You know the stereotype. Fat-cat public workers enjoy lavish benefits that most private-sector workers can only dream of. But do the perks of Greenwich government employment really live up to that image? At a time when unions across the country are being pressured into givebacks to fix broken budgets, we reveal what it costs town taxpayers to fund municipal employee benefits packages.

ONLy IN

PrINT

INSIdETo see charts showing the top 30 munic-ipal and education pensioners in Greenwich, as well as accumulated pay that town retirees rake in, turn to Pages A6-7.

timothy guzda/staff graphic with istock images and staff file images

By Julie ruthStaff Writer

Members of the Democratic Town Committee had their squabbles dur-ing last week’s meeting to endorse candidates for the local elections in November, but most committee mem-bers agreed: they had three excellent candidates competing for the party’s two open slots on the school board.

“It was a can’t-lose proposition,” committee member Peter Berg said. “The people of Greenwich need to know we were picking two out of

three super candidates, probably more quality than they’re going to see from the other party.”

In a shakeup, Adriana Ospina, a party newcomer but a force in the PTA for more than 10 years, seized the second and final spot on the par-ty’s ticket for the Board of Education. Longtime public education advocates and party activists Jennifer Dayton and Sean Goldrick had won the en-dorsement of the Democratic party’s executive committee two weeks earli-er, but Ospina went on to actively seek the endorsement of the town commit-tee membership.

When the ballots were counted

Dems seek change with new blood on BOE

See BOE on A8

By Neil VigdorStaff Writer

When Skip Azud accepted a retirement package two years ago from the town, for which he worked for 34

years as high-way opera-tions manag-er, he cashed in his unused sick days for a lump sum of $29,807.

By Azud’s own esti-mates, he ac-crued well over 180 sick days and got paid for half.

The town then compen-

sated Azud an additional $14,903 for his unused va-cation days.

Don’t resent him for it, said Azud, 59, who also draws a monthly pension and health care allowance

See Battle on A6

Jennifer daytonfrank farricker