By Katie Farrell
Staff writer
May 20, 2008 03:52 am AMESBURY — With a proposed salary adjustment and a change to reflect a greater range of duties, the mayor's chief of staff could make more than her boss next year. The budget for the next fiscal year, which starts July 1, lists chief of staff Kendra Amaral's base salary at $63,200. The mayor makes $60,000 a year. Amaral's base salary in the current year is listed at $51,991, meaning she is due for a 21 percent raise. "The effort here is to try to get the salaries (of town employees) to reflect the level of responsibility in the positions," Mayor Thatcher Kezer said yesterday. By doing that, it is "the only way to recruit and retain" quality candidates, he said. Under his proposed $54.4 million spending plan, Kezer has listed a 2.5 percent increase for cost-of-living adjustments for all union and nonunion staff. The current budget did not have cost-of-living raises. The mayor is negotiating new contracts with all unions representing town employees. Kezer said the figure for the proposed raise for Amaral was reached after bringing the pay back up to what he said it should have been — the last Municipal Council cut the figure, he said — and by adding in the 21/2 percent increase for town employees and adjusting the pay scale to reflect the responsibilities of the role. The aide to Newburyport Mayor John Moak makes an annual salary of $56,500 but that figure jumps up to $61,000 for her responsibilities with the economic development department. Moak makes an annual salary of $65,000. Kezer said he wasn't surprised to see his chief of staff surpass his pay. The mayor's salary hasn't changed in 10 years, Kezer said, while other positions have advanced and been given cost of living adjustments. The chief of staff now makes only slightly less than the mayor, he said. "The mayor's salary is set through a political process at the council rather than through a real assessment of what the position is worth," Kezer said. The mayor's pay is due to change in two years. Last week, councilors agreed to boost the mayor's pay to $80,000 starting in 2010, which is when the next mayor's term would begin. Several municipal councilors yesterday said they expect some discussion on the chief of staff's pay during tonight's hearing on the mayor's office budget. "I'm sure we'll talk about that," District 6 Councilor Jonathan Sherwood said. "For a single line item, that's a significant increase ... That's a big jump. I'll wait to hear the justification for that." At-large Councilor Allen Neale said he also plans to find out the reason for the bump from $52,000 to $63,000. "I guess I have to take a hard look at it; I want her to get what's fair," he said. "If that puts her above $60,000, then that's what it is. I have to tell you that I will be questioning that." Neale, the Finance Committee chairman, said he disagreed with the last Municipal Council, which voted to cut the salary down to $46,000 although the mayor had requested $52,000. "As far as I was concerned, she deserved at least 51," Neale said. The Municipal Council will begin scrutinizing the mayor's proposed FY09 budget this week. The document proposes, among other things, combining the Police and Fire departments' dispatch centers and merging the Public Works and Engineering departments. Councilors said they also are looking forward to hearing more about the plan to combine the police and fire dispatch centers — something several called "a good idea" but said they still have questions about. Council Vice President Bob Lavoie called the combination "a good idea" but said he thinks some discussion will be saved for the police cruisers. "Vehicles are always a hot button in Amesbury," Lavoie said. District 1 Councilor Bob Gilday said he has questions about the overtime budgets for the Police and Fire departments, adding he sees some "disparity" between the two. Sherwood, the District 6 councilor, said he was pleased to see Kezer use "conservative figures" for revenue estimates. "It basically assumed no growth in every revenue source, which I think was a very smart way to start," he said. "I'm happy to see that it's a really conservative budget." The Municipal Council will vote on the budget proposal on June 18.
TONIGHT'S HEARINGS: Mayor Police Fire Public Safety Dispatch Emergency Management Habormaster Liquor Commission The budget hearings begin at 7 p.m. and will be held at the Town Hall auditorium.
—
Copyright © 1999-2008 cnhi, inc.