City Council - Finance Committee

CITY OF EASTHAMPTON OFFICE OF THE CITY COUNCIL Easthampton Municipal Building 50 Payson Ave., Ste. 100 Easthampton, Massachusetts 01027-2260 Telephone #: (413) 529-1460 09/09/2020 MINUTES FINANCE Meeting 9/09/2020 Attendees: FINANCE Committee Members: Councilor Dan Rist, Chair Councilor Peg Conniff Councilor Bill Lynch Other Attendees: Homar Gomez, City Councilor - Precinct 2 Jen Gallant, City Treasurer Meeting called to order at 5:30pm. The meeting was videotaped. Minutes from August 12, 2020 were approved. Motion Councilor Rist, Second Councilor Con- niff 2-0 Councilor Lynch abstained. OLD BUSINESS: 1. Review of Salaries and Stipends per Charter 2-4 (a) • Dan Rist proposals: • Initial discussion on Mayoral salary increase. Increase from $75K to $90K. No raise since 2016. If no raise given before the next term -which is a 4 year term- then the position will not have had a raise for 8 years. This aligns to Mayoral salaries for other communities like North Adams, Greenfield, Agawam of similar size. In addition, this would align to approximately an annual 3% increase YOY since last raise. This is in line with • No recommended change for City Council Salaries • Proposal for an increase for City Council President with an additional $1000 due to the extra work this position requires.  • No proposed increase for School Committee • Proposed increase for BPW stipend from $300/year to $3000/year • Councilor Rist explained that Mayoral Salary would be split between 2 fiscal years and spreads the total increase in all stipends over 2 fiscal years. • Bill Lynch response • Had some questions around what other cities may be doing regarding City Council Presidents. • Also suggested that the School Committee Chair should also receive additional stipend for their additional duties. • Had questions regarding the term of the mayors for the data Dan Rist presented. Dan had no data for that but also disagreed that this is important. Other cities have a lot more staff than Easthampton does to support the Mayor. • Peg Conniff response • Believes the numbers presented by Councilor Rist are reasonable. Biggest con- cern has always been about the difference in a 2 year Mayoral Term versus a 4- year term. If we expect someone to consider running for Mayor, the salary as it is may not provide for a robust candidate pool. It may be a burden for someone to leave a career for 4 years for the current salary. More discussion regarding the BPW stipend and how the stipends would be allocated fiscally. Likely it would be split across 2 years. Councilor Conniff feels any numbers proposed should be bumped up against the 2022 budget that may already be under re- view. The net change would be $29,000/year after 2022. Treasurer, Jen Gallant, clarified that the Auditor does revenue projections. Any changes must align to what ever guidance the Mayor gives related to the Budget preparation. Any increase will have to be offset by reductions in another budget line item….assuming lev- el funded budget for 2022. Any changes must be voted in 2020 per the City Charter for payment in 2022. Questions related to what other cities pay their BPW and City Councils. Some cities have full time council members. Councilor Gomez: Believes BPW stipend is too high. He believes the School Commit- tee manages a $17M budget and should get a higher stipend. Agrees BPW deserve more but not $3000. As for Mayor, agrees that it is a tough job and probably $75K is too low. Not sure if $90K is the right number. Councilor Conniff spoke to the qualifications of a Mayor and they go beyond how well they run. We are not paying a Mayor for how well they campaign, we are paying for the job. Agrees that the School Committee should get a higher stipend. Councilor Lynch suggested a proposed increase for City Council President of $500 and increase the Chair  of School Committee of $500. He further suggested that the Mayor should perhaps only get 50% of the salary increase under proposal. It was discussed to defer the boards and committees for another cycle since they are not elected officials and can have stipends increased at any time. Councilor Conniff feels strongly that with the unknowns around Covid the most critical change we should make at this time is an increase in Mayoral salary. No decisions were made in this meeting. Councilor Rist will update his spreadsheet with numbers discussed tonight and send out tomorrow. 6:15 pm - Motion to adjourn by Councilor Conniff, second Councilor Lynch. 3-0 Next Meeting: TBD Attached Document below: