Our next phase
Hello, neighbors!
We told city councilors that 500 people had signed our poll opposing the exorbitant raises that the mayor proposed for himself and them. But councilors voted for 79% and 50% raises anyway, so our next step is a repeal referendum.
This page contains a lot of information on what that is and what it entails. If you would rather skip to the action part, we need you to physically sign two petitions (and ideally help collect other signatures!). Please fill out this form and we’ll be in touch with you about how to do that, or come to the signing opportunities listed at ajustquincy.com/petition.
Now more on the nitty-gritty details.
Why are we against the raises? Many of us are concerned about the way the mayor and councilors pushed them through:
proposing the increases immediately after an election, so voters couldn’t weigh in on them at the polls and politicians wouldn’t have to vote on them in an election year
using a report by consultants with connections to city officials that made spurious comparisons to cities and towns with government structures that “did not correctly relate to Quincy,” according to Ward 5 Councilor Dan Minton
foregoing any opportunity for public comment, etc. etc.
City councilors acknowledged that the process was flawed and vowed to work out a system for instituting regular raises based on inflation and performance. But instead of doing that work first, on June 17 they voted to approve the huge pay jumps, bringing the mayor’s salary from $159,000 to $285,000 and the councilors’ salaries from $30,000 to $44,500 starting in 2025.
Politicians: 1, residents: 0, right? Not necessarily. If we can get enough in-person (termed “wet”) signatures, we can repeal the raises and force the council back to the drawing board.
How would this work? State law says that if 12% of registered voters sign a referendum petition protesting the raises within 20 days of their approval, one of two things will happen: (a) the city council would have to repeal the raises, or (b) the raises would be put to a vote by the public in either the next city election (in 2025) or in a special election.
How can we make that happen? There are about 66,000 registered voters in Quincy, and 12% of that is ~8,000. We have until July 8, 2024, to return the 8,000 signatures needed to repeal the raises.
Isn’t that impossible? Not impossible, but very, very hard. We are going to need all hands on deck to do it! We are asking everyone to (a) make a plan to sign the petition(s) they support and (b) help gather other signatures. If each of person who signed our poll got just a dozen signatures, we could repeal the raises!
What happens if we’re successful? We should have a big party to celebrate the power of the people! Then we should use that power to demand that the council FIRST work out an appropriate system for raises – with public input – and THEN give out raises. Doing it the other way around is just bad governance.
What if we fall short? Honestly, this is a strong possibility. But the trying is what’s important. In making the effort, we raise awareness about how our government is working (or not), and we build connections with our neighbors. We also put elected officials on notice: their actions will have political consequences. In short, we strengthen our democracy.
How can I get involved? Fill out this form if you can sign the petitions and/or help us collect more signatures! And keep checking ajustquincy.com/petition to see where and when volunteers (including, hopefully, you!) will be collecting signatures over the coming days.
Thanks for caring about our city and how it runs!
