New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
Shelton mayor to get pay raise
SHELTON — The city’s top job could soon get a salary boost.
The Board of Aldermen have scheduled a public hearing on an amendment to the city charter ordinance governing the mayor’s salary and benefits. The public hearing will be March 28 at the City Hall auditorium.
That date will also include public hearings on amendments to ordinances on damage to mailboxes by snowplows; pay for the clerk; corporation counsel salary; and repeal of an ordinance on the administrative assistant salary.
Board of Aldermen President John Anglace, Jr., said the mayor’s salary and benefits are adjusted as governed by city ordinance.
“We do a salary survey for the position of mayor every six years,” Anglace said. “We hire a human resource professional to do the study. His recommendations then go to the Board of Aldermen to be adopted in ordinance form. We have been doing this for many years now.”
The proposed amendment on the mayor’s salary calls for a bump in salary to $166,133 beginning as of the second pay period of November 2023, then to $174,439 for the second pay period of November 2024.
From there, the salary will be adjusted each year for the second pay period of November based upon the cost-of-living adjustment, not less than 3 percent and not more than 6 percent.
Mayor Mark Lauretti — who has held the city’s top job for 32 years and will be running for his 17th term this November — presently earns $158,221, according to data from the finance department. This salary became effective on Nov. 15, 2022, which was the anniversary of his inauguration in 2021.
The ordinance governing the mayor’s salary and benefits will be updated November 2027 and every six years thereafter. The ordinance requires that a survey is done using information from the city wage and salary consultant and the latest data from the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities from cities with similar populations.
The consultant also compares the city’s ability to pay, grand list equalization and internal salary comparison data to arrive at a recommended salary.