By Adam Swift
The City Council is looking to adjust the salaries of two positions that have gone without substantial increases for more than a decade.
Ward 3 Councillor Anthony Cogliandro introduced a motion at Monday night’s council meeting that would amend the city ordinances and raise the assistant city clerk salary to $75,000, and the compensation for the Zoning Board of Appeals clerk from $6,000 to $12,000.
“The last time the ZBA clerk salary was increased was 1998,” said Cogliandro. “If you put this into the state’s inflation calculator, it should be $12,000. I feel like with the increase in public participation and the fact that there are far more ways to communicate now, it is a lot more work and it is definitely something I hope the council will consider supporting.”
As for the assistant city clerk, Cogliandro said the position is currently labeled as an administrative assistant and there is no salary line for an assistant city clerk.
Other departments, such as purchasing, auditing, and parking, all have assistant director positions, Cogliandro said.
“I’d like to create this line item, because what’s been happening is that this poor woman has not been receiving the compensation she should be receiving, and further, there are all the other departments within the city that are getting paid as assistants to the directors or assistant directors,” said Cogliandro.
Assistant city clerks in surrounding cities make anywhere from $77,000 to $92,000 per year, Cogliandro said.
“It’s really about time we start looking into these things and fixing it so people are compensated properly,” said Cogliandro.
Councillor-at-Large Steve Morabito asked that the city’s finance director provide an update on an outside evaluation that was done looking at city positions and compensations relative to other municipalities.
Several councillors spoke in favor of Cogliandro’s motion, which will come before the council again on Nov. 27 for a public hearing.
