QUINCY — There is a growing debate over pay increases in Quincy that could have originally made the city’s mayor one of the highest-paid mayors in the country.
This started months ago, when Mayor Tom Koch hired a consulting firm to determine a pay raise scale it deemed appropriate for the position. Koch is the city’s longest-serving mayor and has not received a raise in a decade.
A 79% pay increase is proposed
That company, Dorminson Consulting, came back suggesting the mayor’s seat should pay between $298,000 and $370,000, a salary that would have made Koch the highest-paid mayor in the country.
But at last week’s City Council meeting, a representative of the mayor said they would officially propose an annual salary of $285,000. The mayor currently makes $150,943, and the new figure reflects a 79% pay increase.
Christopher Walker is the mayor’s chief of staff and said at last week’s meeting, “We believe this number strikes a balance between the study’s analysis and some direct comparisons of communities and positions in the Boston area and our region as a whole . “
‘As taxpayers we’ve had it’
Several dozen people showed up at Quincy City Hall Wednesday afternoon to protest the proposed increase.
“I’m not opposed to the mayor making more money than $159,000,” said Quincy resident John Fitzmaurice. “What I’m against is this huge lump sum to bring him up to $285,000.”
“As taxpayers, we’ve had it,” Kathy Thrun Nason said.
“The cost of living, that’s fair,” Nason continued. “I would love to support it. But 79%? I don’t know anyone in the public or private sector who will get a 79% raise. I won’t say the mayor has done everything bad. He has.” He’s done some very good things, but putting us deeper and deeper into debt and then asking for a 79% raise is just wrong.”
The municipality also wants wage increases. That proposal would bring a council member’s annual salary to $47,500.
The city council will meet next Monday to discuss and possibly vote on the increases. As written, if the proposals are approved, the wage increases would take effect on January 1, 2025.
