Imagine getting a 79% pay raise. That's what the Quincy mayor is requesting

QUINCY ‒ About three weeks after consultants recommended raising Mayor Thomas Koch's salary, the mayor has formally requested a $285,000 salary from city council − a 79% increase.

The consultants recommended a pay raise from his $159,141 to as much as $370,000.

The mayor coupled the request with a proposal to boost the councilors' own compensation from just under $30,000 to $47,500 each.

Chris Walker, Koch's chief of staff, introduced both raises during the May 20 council meeting. The council referred the order to subcommittee without discussion. The matter will be raised again during the June 3 regular council meeting, Walker said.

If approved, the higher salary would take effect Jan. 1, 2025.

Dorminson, the consulting firm, recommended a salary range from $298,957 to $370,000, a figure arrived at by examining a 2019 national survey of salaries for chief administrative officers of local governments serving populations between 100,000 and 250,000.

Would the mayor still make less than Plymouth's town manager?

On the mayor's salary, Walker said the requested $285,000 is less than Plymouth's town manager receives. According to a report compiled by the city's Department of Municipal Finance, Plymouth's town manager makes $293,398. Plymouth's current town manager, Derek Brindisi, will make $252,000 in base pay for fiscal 2025, according to his contract.

Director of Municipal Finance Eric Mason said that the $293,398 figure comes from fiscal 2022, when former Plymouth Town Manager Melissa Arrighi received that amount in total compensation, including a base pay of $226,000 plus $34,461 in "other pay" and $33,271 in "employer-paid benefits", according to Plymouth's Open Finance records.

Mason said that if approved, Koch's $285,000 would reflect his total compensation except common employer-paid benefits like health insurance. Currently, Koch is allowed use of a city vehicle and receives a $600 monthly car allowance as well as $1,000 in annual longevity pay, Mason said. With the new salary, Koch would no longer receive the allowance and longevity pay, though he'd still have use of the city vehicle.

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Walker said Koch would also make less than Cambridge City Manager Yi-An Huang, who receives $344,274 in salary. Plymouth and Cambridge have populations of 61,217 and 118,403 respectively, according to 2020 census data. Quincy's population stands at 101,727.

If the council approves the request, Koch would have a higher salary than the mayors of major U.S. cities, including Michelle Wu, of Boston ($207,000); Eric Adams, of New York ($258,041); and Brandon Johnson, of Chicago ($221,052).

Walker stressed that the proposed salary change is not specific to Koch, but the office of mayor. Compensation should "attract and retain experienced, talented, committed and passionate individuals to the position," Walker said. "We should not have a system that actively dissuades people from participating because salaries are far undervalued."

Raises would be first in about a decade for Quincy mayor and councilors

Koch's one pay raise during his 16 years in office came in 2014, when the council increased his salary from $122,474 to $150,952, a 23% bump. Koch had requested a 30% raise, which drew some criticism from the council at the time.

"In my 25-plus years of government service, I honestly know of no person – no person ever – who got a 30% raise," said then-Councilor-at-large Doug Gutro, who is now on the school committee.

The increase for city councilors would the first in over a decade, according to Walker. In 2022, then-council president Noel DiBona proposed a raise in salaries and travel allowance that would have increased total yearly compensation by $7,650, but the measure failed.

Walker described the roughly $17,500 raise as "fair and adequate for what you all do." None of the councilors made comments about their own potential raise during the meeting. On the reading of the proposal, Ward 6 Councilor Bill Harris objected, effectively tabling the measure until the next council meeting.

Councilor Harris objects to councilors' raise

In a phone interview, Harris told The Patriot Ledger he will not support the raise for councilors.

Harris said he's never asked for raise since joining the body in 2016: "I didn’t get into this for the money."

He said couldn’t bring himself to ask Quincy taxpayers for more money, noting substantial raises across the board for department heads and supervisors approved by the council at Koch's request last year.

Harris said he respects differing opinions among his colleagues, whom he said probably deserve more money for the work they do.

Rather than increase councilors' pay, Harris said additional money would be better spent by assigning one secretary to every two councilors, thus allowing quicker responses to constituents. As it stands, a single secretary serves the entire council, Harris said.

On the mayor's raise, Harris said the high end of the initial recommendation, $370,000, was shocking but $285,000 is close to the right number. He echoed Walker's comment that the raise is as much about attracting qualified mayors in the future as about adequate compensation for the current mayor.

Peter Blandino covers Quincy for The Patriot Ledger. Contact him at pblandino@patriotledger.com.

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This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: Quincy Mayor Thomas Koch asks for big raise for self, city council