EASTHAMPTON — Starting in January 2024, members of the City Council and School Committee will receive a $2,000 boost to their stipends for their respective elected positions.
Following two public hearings, the council unanimously approved a 50% raise for council members — from $4,000 to $6,000 — and a 100% raise for School Committee members, from $2,000 to $4,000.
The council also approved a raise to the leaders of both respective boards, with the School Committee chairperson’s stipend increasing from $2,250 to $4,250, and the stipend of the council president increasing from $4,500 to $6,500.
The council gave the current president’s stipend a bump in 2020 from $4,000 to $4,500. At the same time, the council increased the pay of current School Committee members from $1,400 to $2,000, and the pay of the current School Committee chairperson to $2,250.
At a previous meeting, Precinct 5 Councilor Dan Rist, who serves as chairperson of the Finance Committee, suggested the council host two public hearings to debate the increase in an effort to give the public sufficient time to provide feedback on what he described as “fairly large” increases. However, no one from the public commented at either hearing.
Discussion of the stipends of elected officials is required by the city’s charter by Dec. 31.
“We were anticipating a good deal of public thought, you know, both for and against it and so far it’s been quite quiet,” said Precinct 3 Councilor Tom Peake. “I know that there’s a lot going on — we’re approaching the holidays, the midterms were stressful, and people’s political attention might be elsewhere — but I do think that even though it’s just a small amount of money, I expected this to generate a bit of tension and so far has not been the case.”
The proposed increase was part of an effort aimed at attracting more diversity to two of the most important political bodies governing the city, according to Rist. The Finance Committee recommended the increases 3-0.
“We hope that a large increase might make it possible for lower income people with multiple jobs to be able to afford to serve,” he said.
At-large Councilor Owen Zaret said he had submitted a potential amendment to both of the proposed increases and had sought further explanation for the rationale behind where the numbers had come from, but decided against it. He said that he felt comfortable with the recommendation of the Finance Committee as well as its chairperson, who has been on the council for 27 years.
“I feel that we all work very hard, so hard to put a dollar amount on what we do, but I respect the work of my colleagues and I have respect for the chair … who has done this for much longer than I’ve been involved in municipal government, and so I’m fine with these numbers.”
Peake said he was also comfortable with the proposed increase, but wanted to note that if he were an hourly worker using his estimated weekly 10 hours serving on the council, the stipend would be considered illegal. For those who are living paycheck to paycheck, the better option for supporting a family might be a job at Burger King or CVS rather than a position on the City Council.
“I don’t see this as a wage, I see this as a thing I’m doing for my community and the purpose of the stipend is to help compensate for some of the expenses that I incur in the course of doing that,” he said.
At-large Councilor Brad Riley said that while the intentions behind boosting the stipends of the two city boards was important, he didn’t feel that the increase alone would be enough to increase diversity and recruitment.
At-large Councilor Koni Denham, who is the only woman on the council, agreed. She noted that campaigning for office in and of itself is a financial challenge that can create barriers for others that are interested in running.
Riley suggested partnering with some of the city community boards and agencies, and starting an active recruitment and diversity strategy.
“In the last election, you all ran unopposed. Nobody even bothered to run against you. So, you know, this is an engagement issue,” said Riley. “In essence, if nobody gets engaged in this next election process, we are likely just going to be sitting here again for the next two years.”
Emily Thurlow can be reached at ethurlow@gazettenet.com.
