Cumberland Council approves raise for mayor
CUMBERLAND – The Town Council on Wednesday night approved a salary increase for the mayor, bringing the yearly rate from $67,800 to $95,500 by 2020.
The mayor’s salary will rise to $88,000 in January 2017, with an increase of $2,500 annually for the next three years, capping the salary at $95,500.
Mayor William Murray removed himself from the council chamber for the extent of the discussion on the ordinance, which Councilor Bob Shaw presented. Councilor Arthur Lambi, Jr. had presented an ordinance to increase the mayor’s salary two years ago, but that failed.
“The idea of this isn’t so much that we need to spend more money on our mayor,” Lambi said. “It’s about making sure that if someone is thinking of running for mayor, someone who is qualified does not exclude that decision because they are not able to replace their income that they would give up to run for mayor.”
When Cumberland’s charter was established in 1978, the mayor’s salary was placed at $35,000, Shaw said. That would equal more than $128,000 in today’s money.
“It was made clear to me when we were going through the salaries of the executive staff, in which I was able to take a glance at other towns/municipalities in the state,” Shaw said, “there’s no question that it needed to be readdressed.”
He was referring to the 26th annual salary survey the Rhode Island Division of Municipal Finance released last month. The report showed that of 33 cities and towns in Rhode Island with a chief executive officer, the head of Cumberland has the secondlowest base salary.
The lowest salary is $62,722 in West Greenwich, and the highest is $162,414 in South Kingstown. According to the 2010 Census, the communities closed to Cumberland in population size are North Providence and Coventry, and their mayors are compensated $75,000 and $123,232, respectively. The average of the 33 cities and towns is $102,456.
Shaw said the increase would not impact Cumberland’s tax rate.
Compared to the town’s
$61 million in tax revenue, Lambi said, “it doesn’t even register on the calculator, so we could pick that up through prior year tax collections or some other combination.”
Half of the initial $20,200 jump – from $67,800 to $88,000 by January 2017 – would be put on FY 2017 and half on FY 2018.
The original ordinance on the agenda for Wednesday’s meeting raised the mayor’s salary to $78,000 in 2017 and capped it at $85,500, but Lambi suggested amending the ordinance with a $10,000 increase.
The Council voted 5-1 in favor of the amendment, with Councilor Peter Bradley opposed and Council President E. Craig Dwyer home sick from the meeting.
Councilor Scott Schmitt said of the ordinance, “I think this corrects what I consider to be a problem with our pay structure, with several department heads earning more than our chief executive.”
According to the aforementioned municipal salary survey, Cumberland officials currently earning more than the mayor include the finance director, deputy finance director, water official, planning director, police chief, deputy police chief, public works director, school business manager, school superintendent and deputy school superintendent.
If the other salaries remain the same, the mayor will be making more than everyone but the three school officials by 2020.
“Whoever puts themselves in that position is being held accountable at a much higher level these days as well, through social media, through other forms of media,” Shaw said about the role of mayor. “I think it’s important that we do get a qualified person in here.”