Everett mayor was erroneously paid $180K in annual bonuses and hid it from the city, OIG says

EVERETT, Mass. — The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) is calling for the Everett City Council to recover $180,000 worth of annual bonuses made to Mayor Carlo DeMaria after he and his administration 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 says they received a complaint in February 2022 regarding $220,000 made in longevity payments that the city made to the mayor 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, Mayor 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.

The 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 Mayor 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 Mayor DeMaria.

Boston 25 News has reached out to the mayor’s office for comment, in which they have stated that the conclusions from the report are “wholly unsupported and lack foundation.”

The Mayor’s full statement can be read below:

The Administration strenuously disagrees with the findings and conclusions of the Massachusetts Office of the Inspector General (OIG) in a letter sent to the President of the Everett City Council.

The City has worked with the OIG for nearly three years since learning of the investigation, producing documents and making City officials – including the Mayor – available for interviews with investigators. The release of a 16-page report by the OIG only two days after Mayor DeMaria voluntarily met with investigators suggests a pre-determined result.

In 2016, during a public meeting, the City Council passed the longevity ordinance in the ordinary course of business, and the City made annual payments to the Mayor consistent with its language. Contrary to the OIG’s report, the Mayor did not propose the ordinance, draft the ordinance, or vote to approve the ordinance.

Neither the Mayor nor any member of his Administration engaged in concealment. The City Council received information in multiple years concerning the Mayor’s longevity payment amounts, which was included in City budgets posted on the City’s website. It was not until the most recent mayoral election cycle in 2021 that the amounts were called into question. Any skepticism regarding the Mayor’s longevity payment was spurred by this political campaign.

The Administration is vigorously exploring options to address the OIG’s unsupported and flawed conclusions. “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.”

—  Office of Everett Mayor, Carlo DeMaria

The OIG’s letter to the Everett City Council can be read below in full:

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