Beverly City Council Approves Mayor, Elected Official Pay Increases
BEVERLY, MA — Beverly city elected officials will be getting raises in line with cost-of-living increases beginning with the next election cycle after the City Council voted in favor of adjusting the pay for the mayor’s office, City Councilors and School Committee members on Monday night.
The increase passed 6-3 for all three bodies on a first vote with a second vote — necessary because it is an ordinance change — scheduled for the final meeting of the 2024 session.
A proposed increase from $145,000 to $175,000 for the mayor’s salary was amended to become a 3 percent increase in the first year of the next term, followed by 2.5 percent increases in each of the three following years. That will put the mayor’s salary at $160,833 by the final year of the next four-year term.
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Councilor Todd Rotondo’s prevailing amendment was in line with City Councilor Brendan Sweeney’s proposal making the increases based on a forecast cost of living instead of one larger increase that Budget Analyst Gerry Perry had endorsed.
Pay will increase by $500 for City Councilors and School Committee members each year for the next two years of their respective terms. That will put the City Council president at $16,000 at the end of the next term, with the rest of the Councilors making $15,000, and the School Committee president at $10,000 with each of the other School Committee members making $9,000.
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Voters approved increasing the mayor’s term to four years and expanding the School Committee by two members effective the next election cycle in a 2023 vote.
Those supporting the increases argued that better pay attracts a wider field of candidates and that the increases are in line with those being negotiated in other municipal contracts.
City Councilor Matthew St. Hilaire proposed tabling the increases as chair of the Finance and Property Sub-Committee and said on Monday night: “I see no compelling reason” for the increases at a time when the city is facing a projected $4 million budget shortfall in 2026, in stating his intention to vote against them.
City Council President Julie Flowers and City Councilor Danielle Spang joined St. Hilaire in voting against the increases.
(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at [email protected]. X/Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)
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