WESTFIELD – Members of the City Council overwhelmingly rejected a motion to table the $10,000 hike in the mayoral salary Thursday night with a 10-2 vote.
The motion was made by At-large Councilor David A. Flaherty, and supported by At-large Councilor Agma Sweeney, to table the vote on the mayoral salary increase from $90,000 to $100,000 a year, effective next January following the municipal elections next November.
The council had initiated the discussion of compensation for elected and appointed officials in December as it set the tax rate, but decided to table the issue. Ward 1 Councilor Christopher Keefe, who sponsored the pay raise motion last December, brought the motion back onto the floor at the March 7 council session because of the need to include any funding increases in the 2014 fiscal year budget which is currently being formulated.
The council voted 8-3 at that March 7 meeting to approve the first reading of an ordinance amendment that will jump the salary of the mayor sitting in the corner office next January from the current $90,000 to $100,000. Even at $100,000 the mayor’s salary will be far below the compensation paid to many city employees.
Flaherty said that he wanted to wait for the executive branch to present revised revenue and expense numbers to the council to see if the city can afford, long term, the salary increase.
Flaherty’s motion was rejected and the second reading of the amendment was approved on a voice vote, and then moved to the final passage vote, again gaining approval with a 10-2 vote, with Ward 4 Councilor Mary O’Connell joining Flaherty in opposition.
In a related issue, Council President Brian Sullivan requested that the vote to increase the compensation of other boards and commission be tabled and requested additional information to ensure that all boards and commissions be fairly compensated.
That issue came to light earlier Thursday night when council members were discussing an amendment to the ordinance establishing the city’s Youth Commission, comprised of students from the city’s secondary schools, when the question of compensation for the commission members was raised.
Finance Chairman Richard E. Onofrey Jr., said he would have to research the budget to determine if the Youth Commission members are paid a stipend similar to that of other boards and commissions.
Sullivan also said that citizens elected to the Westfield Athenaeum Board of Directors receive no compensation at all.
“I’d like to table this to see if there are other boards and commission that do not get paid at all,” Sullivan said, “I’d like to know which boards are not paid and why. There may be legal reasons, but we should know.”
The City Council easily approved at the March 7 session the first reading of the motion to increase the stipend for board and commission members from the current $600 to $750 for full members and $500 for alternate members who participate only when a full member cannot attend a meeting.
The motion also identified several boards and commissions for additional compensation, including the Planning Board, Zoning Board of Appeals, Police and Fire commissions, License Commission and Board of Assessors, at twice the established rate, while the chairmen and chairwomen of those boards will receive compensation at a rate 20 percent “greater that than established for members of that board and commission.”
That greater level of compensation for those boards was directly related to the fact that those boards and commission have more meetings, often two per month, and greater responsibility, as well as being the appointing authority for departments.
The salary for mayor’s of some surrounding cities are as follows: Pittsfield at $87,780, Holyoke at $85,000, and the of chief administrative officer for the town of Southwick is paid $88,915.09 annually.
