by Marty Green ·
Friday, October 18, 2024
With inflation gradually declining, the Personnel Board voted unanimously last week to recommend a cost-of-living increase of 3.19% for the town’s nonunion employees in fiscal 2026. That is the lowest such increase in four years. But the amount proposed for merit raises is substantially higher than in past years. The final decision on the increases will be up to the Select Board.
The proposed increases will affect 36 town employees, primarily at Town Hall, the library, and the Council on Aging. The Police Department and the Fire Department, as well as several others, also have some employees in this category.
The cost-of-living adjustments for employees who are represented by unions—such as teachers, DPW workers, and police officers—are written into their contracts. The same is true for individuals who have contracts with the town, such as the town administrator and many department heads.
In setting the amount at its Oct. 10 meeting, the Personnel Board based its recommendation on the increase in the consumer price index from September 2023 through August 2024, as calculated by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This was a practice the board adopted last year. In earlier years, the board had used the index increase just for the month of September, immediately before making its decision.
Much of the meeting focused on matters brought up in a memo submitted by Liz Allard, the town’s conservation agent, who is the nonunion employees’ representative to the Personnel Board. Before 2018, as summarized in the memo, nonunion employees received a step-and-grade increase of 2.25% each year for their first 10 years of employment, as well as a yearly cost-of-living increase. But the step-and-grade system was dropped after 2018, to be replaced by a system of merit raises that have been set between 1 and 1.5% per year. The amount each employee could get from that merit pool would vary, based on a performance evaluation by the person’s supervisor.
According to the memo, the average merit raise under the new system has been .81%. The merit amount recommended by an employee’s supervisor was often reduced by the town administration, the memo said. As board member Jennifer Finch noted, “Tim [Bragan, former town administrator] has told us that no one ever got the maximum.”
In the memo, the nonunion employees recommended that the Personnel Board adopt a standard merit increase with a maximum of 3% and a minimum of .5%. The memo also asked that merit pay be determined by an employee’s supervisor.
As an alternative to a merit raise, Personnel Board Chair Victor Normand suggested that an employee could receive a merit bonus, which would be paid as a lump sum but would not become part of an employee’s base pay. A bonus system, he said, could justify somewhat higher merit pay, but it would not add as much to the town’s long-term cost, because it would not compound from year to year.
Allard said the idea of a one-time bonus payment would not be well received by employees. One reason, she said, is that any bonus pay would not be reflected in the employee’s eventual retirement pay. Assistant Town Administrator Allyson Mitchell explained that retirement pay is determined by a person’s base pay, not including any overtime, bonuses, or stipends.
As the Personnel Board moved toward a vote on the merit pay question, Finch said she supported the 3% maximum but did not believe there should be a minimum, and the board voted unanimously to remove the .5% minimum. The members next voted 4-1 to approve a maximum merit amount of 3%. Normand, Finch, Allard, and Don Ludwig (who is also chair of the Select Board) voted in favor; board member Diana Harte was opposed. The measure as approved also required the town administration to confer with supervisors on the amount of raises, pending review to make sure that provision accords with the town charter.