Last modified: Monday, March 5, 2007 11:58 PM EST ARA maintains Milanoski's pay increase not linked to request BY GEORGE W. RHODES SUN CHRONICLE STAFF ATTLEBORO - The city gave the Attleboro Redevelopment Authority a budget increase of $75,000 about two months before the ARA handed out a $10,000 pay raise to its executive director, but the two are not related, ARA officials said in response to city councilors who objected to the raise. The councilors said they weren't informed about a pay raise when the budget increase was voted. But ARA member Don Smyth said the $75,000 budget increase, which comes from Community Development Block Grant money, is being used only to pay a new administrative assistant and professional consultants as intended. "None of the money is being used for the raise," Smyth said. He further defended the increase, saying the ARA deemed it necessary to pay Executive Director Michael Milanoski what his "peers in the profession make," especially when there are opportunities Milanoski could seek at places such as the Boston Redevelopment Authority or possibly in the administration of Gov. Deval Patrick. Smyth said Milanoski is the key to the ARA's operation and is too valuable to lose. "We have an executive director with whom we are very pleased," he said. "We don't want to lose him, and you can quote me." Milanoski said his pay raise is being billed to state and federal grants that help pay for the three major projects being handled by the ARA. The grants account for about 38 percent of all ARA revenue for fiscal year 2007 or $205,010 of the $533,010 budget. City block grant money, some $228,000, accounts for 43 percent of the budget. The final 19 percent, or about $100,000, is expected to come from land sales at the industrial business park. All told, Milanoski's salary is derived from six sources. Prior to the raise, 44 percent or $41,487 of his $94,290 salary came from the $154,000 Community Development Block Grant grant the city allocated to the ARA at the beginning of the fiscal year in July. That amount won't change, even though the block grant funding was increased $75,000 by the council, he said. The additional $10,000 will come from land sales and grants from an Economic Development Incentive program, an Environmental Protection Agency program, a Federal Transit Authority program and a Brownfields Economic Development Incentive program, Milanoski said. As a result of the raise, Milanoski will have a salary of $104,290. That amount is his annual gross pay. However, the total cost to the ARA is $124,997 because of benefits and retirement money, which Milanoski does not see in his pay check. The ARA pays 75 percent of Milanoski's health and other insurances, totaling $12,221, and it pays 80 percent of his retirement money, or $8,466. Milanoski said that the amount paid to him and Chief Financial Officer Meg Ross from block grant money is less than the city would have to pay to its own employees for similar positions, meaning that the city is getting the same services at a reduced cost. GEORGE W. RHODES can be reached at 508-236-0432 or at grhodes@thesunchronicle.com.