Council, Advisory Board Vote for Pay Increases – Including Mayor

The City Council voted 11-2 at its June 27 meeting to accept the mayor’s new ordinance that would raise the pay of several City employees, including the City Council and the mayor.

The changes for mayor wouldn’t go into effect until after the next election in 2022. The changes for the City Council wouldn’t go into effect until after the next Council election in 2020.

Those voting against the measure were Councilors Ayanna Pressley and Josh Zakim.

The most noticed change was the increase in pay for the mayor’s position.

The mayor now makes $199,000 annually, and that pay rate would be increased to $207,000 in 2022.

The Council pay increase would go from the current $99,500 annually to $103,500 in 2020.

The pay increase came after a review by the Compensatory Advisory Board – chaired by former Councilor John Tobin – and a meeting of Councilor Michael Flaherty’s Committee on Government Operations.

The Compensation Advisory Board (CAB) retained an independent consultant to analyze classification and compensation from cities across the country, and the board voted unanimously to present this recommendation to the Mayor.

Salaries hadn’t been reviewed since 2013, and no changes had been made to salaries since 2006.

In some instances, as said during the Committee meeting, some department heads were making less than employees that were under them. That was because many of the top ranking jobs in the City are capped with a maximum and minimum pay range. That pay range hadn’t been adjusted for many years.

Sam Tyler of the Boston Municipal Research Bureau, a watchdog of City finances, testified at the Committee meeting that he was glad to see the City use the CAB process again rather than a simple vote of the Council.

He said the change only increased the salary ranges and not necessarily the actual salary of the person in the job.

Other positions getting a pay range adjustment included:

• Corporation Counsel, Collector-Treasurer and Chief Information Officer went from a maximum of $165,000 annually to a maximum of $214,000 annually.
• The maximum for Assessing Commissioner, Public Works Commissioner, ISD Commissioner, Parks Commissioner, Transportation Commissioner, Property Management Commissioner and City Auditor went from $155,000 to $160,000.
• The City Clerk, Purchasing Agent and Personnel Supervisor went from $135,000 to $150,000.