WATERBURY, Conn. (AP) – A former mayor serving 37 years in prison on federal child sex charges claims the city owes him tens of thousands of dollars for vacation, sick and personal days he didn’t have a chance to take before he was arrested five years ago.

The request is bold even for Waterbury, which has a storied political history that includes the arrests of three mayors, a state takeover of the city’s finances and a native son serving 11 years as governor before being brought down by a corruption scandal.

Former Mayor Philip A. Giordano recently sent a letter to Mayor Michael J. Jarjura’s special counsel demanding the city pay $61,000 for 13 weeks of vacation, 99 sick days and 27 personal days he accrued. A city official said Tuesday that won’t happen.

The four-page letter from the Garner Correctional Facility in Newtown, first obtained by the Republican-American newspaper, claims that city mayors earn four weeks of vacation, 18 sick days and five personal days annually that, if unused, roll over from year to year and can be cashed out upon leaving office.

Some in Waterbury, a gritty industrial city about 30 miles southwest of Hartford, ridiculed Giordano’s request Tuesday.

“I don’t think there’s anything too low that he wouldn’t stoop for. For him, that he thinks that Waterbury owes him something, is just ridiculous,” said Edith Reynolds, owner of John Bale Bookshop and Cafe in downtown Waterbury. “I think it’s shameful. He cost the city an awful lot of money. We have a lot of people who won’t consider relocating to this town because of the bad reputation.”

Giordano, a Republican who was first elected mayor in 1995, was near the end of his third two-year term in July 2001 when he was arrested on child sex charges. He was convicted nearly two years later of sexually abusing two preteen girls.

He was convicted after a sordid trial that included graphic testimony from a crack-addicted prostitute who said Giordano paid her to bring her daughter and niece to City Hall, his home and his law office for oral sex. The details shocked even Giordano’s closest supporters.

Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Ned Lamont’s campaign manager recently described Waterbury as “where the forces of slime meet the forces of evil” after the city overwhelmingly backed incumbent Joe Lieberman earlier this month in the Democratic primary.

Lamont, who won by 10,000 votes, later apologized, and campaign manager Tom Swan said the remarks were part of a broader discussion of state politics in which Giordano was the “slime” and former Gov. John G. Rowland was the “evil.” Rowland, a Waterbury native, was forced to resign in 2004 and served a federal prison term for corruption.

Adam Martin, 29, a Hamden resident who works in Waterbury, said Giordano owes the city a lot more than $61,000.

“He didn’t care about Waterbury, he cared about himself,” Martin said. “It’s just a selfish request. He should do his time and be quiet.”

Sheila O’Malley, Jarjura’s chief of staff, said mayors know they will spend many hours outside the regular work day attending meetings and functions and have never had sick or vacation days.

“It’s not authorized in the charter and we’re not obligated to give him sick time, and therefore we wouldn’t even entertain this idea,” she said.

Former Mayor Edward D. Bergin Jr., who said he never put in for compensation after leaving office, said the city should quickly reject Giordano’s letter.

“It’s outrageous,” Bergin said, adding that the request is another reminder of the deal that the city made with Giordano after his arrest. The city agreed to pay Giordano half his salary and give him health benefits until his term expired. In exchange, he agreed not to try to return to office if he made it out on bond. He never did.

In his letter, Giordano said he just wants what he believes the city owes him.

“Kindly consider this correspondence a formal demand for payment. Please cross-reference these figures as soon as possible so that we may close this financial chapter,” Giordano wrote. “The intent of this correspondence and subsequent demand is simply to receive what I have rightfully earned … nothing more.”