See which Quincy employees are slated for raises; some as big as $30,000

QUINCY − City finance officials say a projected increase in state aid, strong returns on investments and rising local revenue sources such as building permits and inspection fees, the meals tax and the sale of cemetery plots are expected to help pay for Quincy's highest-ever operational budget next fiscal year.

City councilors met to discuss the mayor's proposed budget for fiscal 2024 for the first time Monday. Mayor Thomas Koch has proposed a $405.7 million budget, an almost 9% spending increase over this fiscal year and the first time the budget proposal has topped $400 million.

The next fiscal year will start July 1, and city councilors have until mid-June to meet with department heads, make cuts and return an approved budget to the mayor's office.

Municipal Finance Director Eric Mason said the city has strong revenue projections going into the next fiscal year.

The majority of the city’s budget is funded by property taxes, with state aid and local receipts covering the rest. Mason said the city received almost 20% more in state aid than it was expecting in fiscal 2023, the meals tax is on pace to be 25% higher than originally projected and a recent expansion of Pine Hill Cemetery has led to increased plot sales.

Nonunion employees slated for raises in Quincy

Roughly 60% of the large budget increase can be attributed to new police and teachers' union contracts, as well as across-the-board raises nonunion employees will get over the next two fiscal years. All budgets, including the pay raises, need the approval of city councilors.

The city last year hired an outside agency to investigate employee compensation after beloved tree warden Chris Hayward left Quincy for a higher-paying job. The investigators recommended market salary adjustments, which have been split between the fiscal 2024 and fiscal 2025 budgets, Chris Walker, Koch's chief of staff, said.

"Clearly, the salary that was being offered from the city wasn't enough to keep him here," Walker said of the tree warden. "This is a future-driven policy. What we're looking at is the ability to keep and attract talent in the future."

High-level employees slated for raises in fiscal 2024 include Walker, whose salary would go from $123,279 to $153,422; a $26,000 raise for Mason; $15,000 each for City Clerk Nicole Crispo and Planning Director Jim Fatseas; $26,000 for Public Buildings Commissioner Paul Hines; $10,000 for Fire Chief Joe Jackson; and $8,000 for the next police chief, who will replace Paul Keenan when he retires in June. There is no pay raise proposed for the mayor, who has made $150,943 the last several years.

The salary for the tree warden job would increase from $93,057 to $98,345.

City Councilor-at-Large Anne Mahoney said the raises were worthy of more discussion than being lumped into the budget process, and that she doubts they're fair to every employee.

"I really do feel like the way we're looking at this, and the way we're putting these salary increases in for this year's budget, is preventing us from having a real discussion about whether or not the salary increases that were suggested are fair and equitable across the board or if they're disparaging to some people ... and I truly believe they are," Mahoney said. "There are certain people, and it looks like preferred people, who are getting gigantic raises."

Ward 1 City Councilor Dave McCarthy said city employees, particularly department heads, have long been underpaid.

"I know that the leap to some people is shocking," he said. "The numbers, in most cases, are what the competitive salary analysis was done for."

Ward 4 City Councilor James Devine, who is in his first budget season on the city council, said he took the budget data and compared it to that of other South Shore communities before the meeting.

"There are smaller towns that pay a lot of their commissioners and directors larger salaries," he said. "I'd hate to lose some of our people that we have working here to a smaller town because they're paying more money when we have the money to pay more. I thought the idea behind (the report) was that it was a nonbiased report. … I'm nervous that we might lose some qualified people."

Ward 2 City Councilor Anthony Andronico said he wasn't comfortable approving the budgets presented Monday without further discussion on the raises. The council still heard presentations from city department heads, but voted only on the parts of the budget that don’t have to do with the raises until an additional meeting can be held on the salary report.

Departments heads present budgets to city councilors

Councilors approved the budgets of the treasurer, assessor, purchasing department, legal, human resources, fire and planning departments, with the exception of any line item involving proposed salary increases.

Molly Smith, who presented her first budget as treasurer, asked for an additional $100,000 to catch up on years of back-dated tax delinquency. She said the office has historically waited as long as allowed by the state − three years − to go after properties with unpaid taxes, but she said the city should be in contact with landowners before they stand to lose their properties. Her efforts were praised by councilors and the $150,000 tax title expenditure budget was approved.

"I'm very happy you're taking this aggressively because this is a great thing," Ward 5 City Councilor Chuck Phelan said. "These properties lead to derelict properties down the road."

The fire department's $32.3 million budget includes money for a fourth ladder company in Quincy and adds $3.5 million worth of personnel expenses, including more money for shift differentials, educational differentials and holiday pay. Salaries of base-level firefighters are proposed to increase by about $7,000 per person, which is part of settled union negotiations, not the market-rate pay increases.

Original Source: https://www.patriotledger.com/story/news/2023/05/24/quincy-department-heads-employees-slated-for-raises-in-fy24/70247243007/