School Committee Compensation to Increase $500

At its meeting Thursday night, the City Council voted to change an ordinance that will increase School Committee members' compensation to $3,000, up from $2,500.

Councilor-at-Large Joan Lovely, who heads the Committee on Ordinances, Licenses and Legal Affairs, said the School Committee has not "seen an adjustment in 21, almost 22 years."

"That's a shame," she said.

After a review, Lovely said it was determined an initial raise of $500 was appropriate with reviews of compensation every other year.

According to Lovely, the decision to make a 20 percent increase and the call for a review every two years was made after examination of surrounding communities. Additionally, Lovely said her Committee decided they , which would require a much "deeper review." Ordinance License and Legal Affairs, together with the School Committee, also agreed to keep compensation to under $5,000, which would trigger pension and health insurance benefits, Lovely said.

Though Councilor-at-Large Thomas Furey spearheaded an effort to modify the ordinance to increase School Committee compensation to $4,500, the effort, which required a 2/3 majority as a financial matter, failed since it only received seven out of 11 votes.

City Council President, Ward 4 Councilor Jerry Ryan said the schools "are a whole different ballgame" now than they were years ago, adding that he agreed with Furey's initiative.

Lovely said jumping from $2,500 to $4,500 in "one fell swoop is too much."

After the motion to raise compensation to $4,500 failed, councilors voted on the $500 raise.

In the end, Mike Sosnowski and John Ronan were the only two members of the Council to vote against the $500 ordinance change.

Ward 2 Councilor Sosnowski, who had supported Furey's motion to increase compensation by $2,000, said he would not vote for a $500 increase because he considered it "an insult."

Ward 5 Councilor Ronan said he was against a $500 or 20 percent raise because it is more than the 2.5 percent maximum real estate tax increase in the budget. Ronan said he decided to "draw a line in the sand" when he saw the budget and said he would not support any salary increase over 2.5 percent.

When questioned why he supported initial talk about raising compensation to $6,000, Ronan said he hadn't yet seen the budget.

"That was before I knew there wasn't one more dollar left on the table in Salem that could be spent legally," he expalined.

Ronan said his decision was not a personal one, adding that he was looking at the big picture.

"I might not have any friends by the time this budget is over," he added.