Happy NINE NINE!
It’s Monday, September 9th, 2024.
HAPPY NINE NINE!
A blog post by Joe Murphy
Today is the day we have been looking forward to for a few months now. This evening at 5:30 p.m., many people will gather by the John Adams Statue at the Hancock Adams Green to protest the exorbitant raises our elected officials gave themselves last spring.
The Mayor proposed one ordinance to increase his salary by 79% and a separate ordinance to increase the City Council’s salary by 58%. The City Council ended up approving raises of 79% and 50%, respectively. These ordinances increased the taxpayer-funded salaries by $256,000 per year.
As we prepare to gather tonight, here is a reminder of why:
Outrageous Amount
The mayor proposed raises far higher than local, state, or national norms. As we have pointed out repeatedly, the raise that Mayor Koch is scheduled to receive in 2025 would make him one of the top-paid mayors in the country (the third highest paid mayor of any major city in the US).
“Normally, an electorate would look at this and say ‘You’re kidding,’” veteran political consultant Tony Cignoli told MassLive. “This is an exorbitant pay increase, it’s become national news — you have the mayor of Quincy getting paid more than the mayors of Boston and New York City. As a consultant, I’d have a field day with this.”
If anyone doubts how shocking these increases are, I encourage them to ask their friends or family in other towns what they think. It is not usual for Quincy to make national news for administrative and budgetary reasons.
Suspicious rationale
The Mayor’s raise was justified by the Dorminson report, an analysis commissioned by the Quincy Finance Office. The principals of Dorminson are connected to Quincy’s Chief Financial Officer, Eric Mason. Dorminson has signed a new contract with the city that includes a 20% increase to their rates.
Dorminson made their case by comparing the Mayor’s salary to city/town managers. An apples to orange comparison. Town managers are hired, not elected, are reviewed for their performance and can be fired if they don’t meet expectations. Town managers are employed to carry out policy as set by elected leaders by supervising the administrative operations of the town. Mayors are elected leaders who are expected to set policy. Mayors are public servants, not corporate CEOs. This reality is reflected in government up to the President, whose salary would fall far below market rate, especially if compared to private-sector counterparts.
To justify the mayoral raise, city councilors seemed to employ some fallacious reasoning:
Strawman arguments:
Many people are not Mayor Koch supporters and they want no raise at all. This argument comes up often, and we have to swat at it like so many flies. The vast majority of residents who are against these raises would support a sensible and fair increase for these positions. AJQ does not have a consensus on what those numbers should be, but some of us, as individuals, have suggested applying the raises that teachers and city workers have received over the past 10 years.
The number will be right, eventually.
Some councilors and the mayor’s office seem to be under the impression that this is the only opportunity we will have to make a salary adjustment. Rather, they seem to be thinking of this raise like a parent might buy shoes for their growing child: “you’ll grow into it.” Don’t worry if the number is outrageously high; it will be correct someday. Depending on which councilor or city official you are talking to, the number could be right in 2, 5, or 10 years. It does not seem to matter that the city’s taxpayers are paying for it now. It does not seem possible to them to set the number correctly for 2025 and then evaluate it again in 2026 or 2027.
No resident input
Though public hearings were called for by many residents, including many members of AJQ, those requests were completely disregarded by the City Council and Mayor. Letters from concerned residents appeared in the Quincy Sun.
examples: www.ajustquincy.com/blog/thoughtsfromaquincyresident and www.ajustquincy.com/blog/joemurphyletter
But these letters did not prompt public hearings. Citizens wrote numerous emails to their city council, asking for a meeting and/or asking them to reconsider. Most of these people did not receive a response.
Shameful timing
We had a city election within the past year. The mayor and the city council were all on the ballot, and there was no mention of a raise during these campaigns. The salary levels of all our elected leaders are set by statute, so there should have been no surprises to anyone. The mayor has famously had the same salary for the past ten years. The city councilors have also had the same pay rate for many years. Every one of these elected leaders ran for office last year and was sworn in just weeks before the topic of raises came up in April. They knew what the job paid, they ran for and accepted the job, and then immediately asked for more money. I use the term “asked for” loosely since there was no asking at all. The only people who had a say in this raise were the ten people receiving the additional money. This was discussed on AM Quincy with Joe Catalano, back in June.
Many of the people reading this work for businesses, perhaps owning businesses. Imagine going through stacks of resumes, conducting various 1st, 2nd, and 3rd interviews, perhaps passing on equally qualified candidates, and deciding on the person you think is right for the job. Then, two months after they start, they ask for a 50% (or even 79%) raise. The people of Quincy are stuck with these elected leaders for 1-3 more years, at minimum. Would any of the readers in the private sector have allowed their new hires to renegotiate their pay with a clause in their contract that says they can’t be let go for 1-3 more years?
NINE NINE RALLY!
It will be nice to see everyone out in the plaza again. We haven’t been together in a big group since the 7/7 rally and our meeting at the library. You may see some press joining us as well. Most AJQ supporters can speak passionately about this issue already, but if anyone wants to review more information you can:
Scroll through the blog.
The page that started it all, our information page.
The new feature, the who’s who.
Our press page, which has articles and segments by local and not so local journalists.
Our YouTube page has a lot of videos to go over.
Well, I hope you found this refresher helpful. Maybe you were reminded of some points you had not thought of in a while. Maybe you got riled up just enough to make the idea of spending an evening with the city council a bit more appealing. Or maybe it was an unnecessary reminder of why we are investing our time and energy.
See ya soon!
~Joe
