Upon the recommendation of the Non-union Compensation Committee, the Legislative Council agreed Monday to increase the salaries of the mayor and the town clerk in order to bring their salaries more in line with those of similar communities.
The council took the action now in order for it to go into effect after the election. The committee will continue to study the salaries of non-union employees, including department heads, and bring recommendations to the council for adjustment.
"The committee is reviewing the salary structure of anyone in town government in a non-union position," council president Jim Pascarella said. "They will continue to meet with the goal to present the council with a salary structure that is fair compared to other municipalities."
Under the salary scheduled approved Monday, the position of mayor, which now pays $90,176, will rise to $95,000 on Jan. 1, and the Town Clerk's job, which now pays $68,623, will go up to $75,000.
The committee used as a basis a Connecticut Conference of Municipalities salary survey that determined that the average salary for the position of mayor for a municipality the size of Hamden is $102,519 and for a town clerk, $74,384.
Each of the town's Registrar of Voter's will see their stipend increase from $15,375 to $18,000. In all, the salary increases will impact the budget an additional $7,724, with the balance transferred from other sources.
"This is strictly a matter of fairness," Pascarella said. "We have enormous sympathy for the taxpayers but we have to be fair to the officials.
The CCM survey broke municipalities into four categories: those below 20,000 populations; 20,000 to 40,000 populations; 40,000 to 60,000 populations and more than 60,000.
The results found that Hamden's positions paid less than municipalities with much lower populations, Pascarella said.
"We discovered in our analysis that compared to other towns, we are below average in our salaries," he said. Most towns the size of Hamden, which has a population of just over 60,000, pay their mayors well over $100,000, he said.
The committee will also be making recommendations for salary adjustments for department heads, Pascarella said, some of whom earn less money than the people who work for them and are eligible to earn overtime.
Hamden has thousands of taxpayers not working, do to no fault of their own and now Hamden’s Legislative Council feels it is the right time to give pay increases to the mayor, town clerk and other high ranking elected officials. I would say that the majority of these unemployed Hamden taxpayers would say that Hamden elected officials who voted for these pay increases are out of touch and insensitive to the financial pain these Hamden taxpayers are suffering. I think that these unemployed Hamden taxpayers would agree that it is time that Hamden voters put these out of touch and insensitive town officials in the ranks of the unemployed come Election Day.
Not the right time is correct!
What isn't fair is the hundreds of police, fire and BOE employees that make more than the mayor. It is time for big changes in compensation for those folks
To your question, Mike Iezzi, Jr. (R-1), Dave Hennigan (D-4), Mike Colocaivo (D-7) and John DeRosa (D-8) were the "no" votes. Gabe Lupo (R-2) and Lynn Campo (R-9) were not present. If I was on the Town Council, I would have voted no and if I were Mayor, I would not have pushed for these salary increases. If I am elected Mayor, I will not accept the salary increase I saw pass yesterday evening. The real issue is not whether the salary increases were fair, but whether the Town can afford it. While Mr. Levinson is correct that these increases are not significant in the whole scheme of the budget, we are in a dire position and every penny counts. I would have preferred to see these salary increases devoted to playing some small part in shoring up the fund balance or funding our pension to help avert catastrophe in the future. While these increases might be "fair", the raises will be paid for by taxpayers who are "unfairly" unemployed or under-employed. Now is not the time. I quickly acknowledge the difficult task and tough decisions faced by the Town Council in these times, but this was one of the few votes which should have been easy. Matthew Corcoran Republican Candidate for Mayor
It is time for some serious solutions to Hamden's budget issues. Talking about these trivial salary increases versus the pension shortfall or health care plan is ludicrous. The pension fund will never be fully funded unless we reduce the town's commitments. The town's health care spending will never be curbed until all employees pay a much bigger portion of their premium. Earn that pay Mr. Mayor! Get to work reducing benefit costs.