EVERETT, Mass. — The Office of Everett Mayor Carlo DeMaria is pushing back on an Inspector General report that calls for the Everett City Council to recover $180,000 worth of annual bonuses made to DeMaria after he and his administration allegedly misapplied the payments and intentionally hid it from the city and public.
In a letter sent to Everett City Council President Stephanie Martins on Thursday, the OIG stated that they received a complaint in February 2022 regarding $220,000 in longevity payments that the city made to DeMaria between September 2016 and April 2021. Longevity payments are considered additional wages or other compensation given on the basis of length of service.
In July 2016, DeMaria filed an ordinance with the city council asking for longevity payments after learning other city employees were making more than him, according to the inspector general.
DeMaria’s administration said they “strenuously disagree” with the OIG’s “unsupported and flawed conclusions,” calling it an attack on the mayor’s integrity.
“I have worked too hard and too long as a public servant in the City of Everett to stand by while the Inspector General attacks my integrity and the integrity of the members of my Administration,” DeMaria’s statement read.
The OIG report said that administration’s proposal called for a $10,000 payment to the mayor after each term, and a one-time retroactive payment of $10,000 for each previously completed term to the sitting mayor at the time of the passage of the ordinance (DeMaria had served three terms to that point). The longevity payment would total $40,000.
However, on September 26, 2016, during an Everett City Council meeting, the ordinance was considered with slightly different language than the original proposal.
Rather than payment after each term, the language was changed to for each completed term. The OIG says it’s unclear who changed the language.
On September 28, 2016, the city paid DeMaria $30,000 in retroactive payment for three terms, although the ordinance hadn’t been formally adopted until October 11, 2016.
Moving forward, the mayor received payments of $10,000 each term he served cumulatively and annually, according to investigators. This resulted in a $30,000 retroactive payment by the city in 2016 (intended) and 2017 (unintended). In 2018, that number jumped to $40,000 because Mayor DeMaria completed another full term.
He was paid an additional $40,000 annually between 2018 and 2021, totaling an erroneous $180,000 bonus. The Everett City Council learned of these longevity payments in 2022 and immediately took action to lower the payments to $1,700.
“I am not aware of any elected official in the Commonwealth who receives a $40,000 annual bonus,” Inspector General Jeffrey S. Shapiro said.
A subsequent investigation by the OIG’s office states that Mayor DeMaria and his administration not only misapplied the longevity ordinance, but hid the payments from the city and public. The payments were “hidden” in a human resources line item used to pay employees for unused sick and vacation time after 2016, according to investigators. The Inspector General also claimed that senior members of DeMaria’s administration failed to properly document the payments.
“Through their misapplication of the longevity ordinance and their efforts to conceal all but the first payment, the mayor and members of his administration, including his CFO and budget director, failed to uphold their fiduciary duties and their obligation to the people of Everett,” Shapiro said. “It is imperative that the City Council act to recover these funds from the mayor and return them to the city’s treasury.”
Shapiro recommended that the city council eliminate longevity payments to elected officials, provide detailed information about the mayor’s longevity payments to the State Ethics Commission, require members of the city council and the mayor’s administration to take specialized training on their fiduciary obligations, and strengthen controls in the city’s finance department.
He is also requesting a full audit of all payments made to DeMaria.
The DeMaria’s full statement can be read below:
The OIG’s letter to the Everett City Council can be read below in full:
OIG Letter to Everett City Council regarding improper longevity payments to Mayor Carlo DeMaria by Boston 25 Desk
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