The Meeting included a discussion about possible City Council and Mayoral raises and expenditures of free cash. Listen to the meeting on any device. Click Play.
Gardner MA Finance Committee Takes up possible 2024 raises for City Council and the Mayor
According to City Councillor Ron Cormier who says he’s been around a long time, every time the subject of raises for the Council and Mayor come up, it’s not popular, so the City always falls behind. He suggests some sort of cost of living adjustment should be put in place, but for now, he wants the City Council to approve small raises. There’s also a provision to pay an Acting Mayor should that happen again. It was made clear that any raises would not take effect until after the next election. Councilor Cormier asked for the matter to be referred to the Council Committee as a whole. Cormier stated, ” I think it’s high time that the Council step up and address the fact that the Mayor’s position as well as the Council’s positions should be reimbursed for the amount of work they do . We’re looking for good candidates .We should encourage people to do so….it’s the pay structure ,it has to be taken care of, it’s been about eight or nine years since it’s been addressed. “
The City of Gardner last week signed on the company which will be doing a Salary Survey of City Employees and making recommendations. The goal is to keep the City competitive in hiring and results are expected in August. Should the City add a survey of City Council/Mayor salaries to the tasks of the company, a higher cost and later completion date would be anticipated.
In other matters, the Finance Committee recommended approval of $134,500 from free cash for the City portion of the Airport runway and taxiway system. From the FAA the City had received a grant of almost $5 million and from MA Dept. of Transportation just over $400k. The Mayor said he was being very careful with free cash requests until “we know what our full snow and ice removal costs are going to be, what the winter is going to do with us.” He has projects in mind, but he wants to make sure the City will have the money before making the requests. The Mayor did say he would be making a request for $150,000 for equipment for the new fire trucks that have already been purchased and are awaiting arrival.