Education Budget - Superintendent's pay?

I've reviewed the Board of Education Budget, and again I have a few questions regarding pay for the Superintendent and Assistant Superintendents (how many ARE there?).

You may recall that I blogged earlier:

Our source for this information is the 11/05/2004 West Haven News article entitled School Board keeps Tortora.

Also in that article, however, it shows that the Board of Education had extended his contract to August 31, 2007 (from August 31, 2006)... and regarding pay:

According to the new contracts, both men will receive the same 3 percent salary increases in their final year that they are now guaranteed in the 2005-06 academic year.

By the end of 2007, Tortora will receive $146,260, up from $142,000, while Cavallaro's salary will get a boost from $122,000 to $125,660.

The only other new terms of the contracts include three additional vacation days, starting this academic year, as well as a $500 stipend each.

And we are aware that Superintendent Paul Tortora made the decision to retire in 2006. However, if the agreement was that Paul Tortora would receive $146,260 by the end of 2007, why was 146,855 spent in the 2005/2006 budget year? And why has $150,000 been budgetted for this year!

Also, more concerning, is that we appear to have multiple assistant superintendents - is that really necessary? Our costs for Assistants has risen significantly. In 2004/2005, we only spent $116,651 on assistant superintendents. In 2005/2006, we spent $169,094 (estimated). However, for 2006/2007, we have budgeted $253,864 (!) WHY????