An unauthorized practice has overpaid retiring Warwick firefighters for accumulations of vacation time since 2015, a Providence Journal investigation shows.
Asked about documents and information developed by The Journal, Mayor Joseph J. Solomon said Friday he was ordering a halt to the practice.
Solomon accused his predecessor, Mayor Scott Avedisian, of signing a contract document that enhanced the vacation perk even though the change was never approved by the City Council, as required.
The tweak to the document increased the city’s payment to eligible Fire Department retirees for each unused vacation day from an amount equal to one-fifth of a week’s pay to an amount equal to one-quarter, Solomon said.
“I’m totally disgusted and disappointed,” he said. “I know the contract that Scott Avedisian signed was not the contract that was voted by the City Council,” he said.