Council approves mayor’s 6% raise

Pay boost for next year includes annual cost-of-living hikes

Easton City Council on Wednesday night approved a 6 percent pay raise for the mayor starting next year in addition to annual cost-of-living increases.

The mayor’s salary touched off a heated exchange between Mayor Sal Panto Jr. and City Councilman Peter Melan, who said it is too much.

The mayor’s pay will increase from $86,306 to $91,500 in 2020.

Melan said he was not opposed to increasing the mayor’s salary once, but took issue with cost-of-living increases, which he says will be every year under the adopted proposal instead of every two years under the previous policy.

Panto served as the city’s mayor from 1984-1992.

He was re-elected in 2008 and is serving his third term. He is up for re-election this year.

“By 2023, the mayor’s salary will be $99,000,” Melan said Wednesday, estimating the annual cost-of-living increase to be 3 percent.

City Administrator Luis Campos said annual raises have ranged from 2 to 3 percent, with the most recent raise being 2.25 percent.

“I’m OK with a raise now, but an annual raise after that for four years I am uncomfortable with,” Melan said.

He also questioned whether city officials investigated what the mayors of other third class cities make, and pointed out that Easton has a city administrator to perform the day-to-day operations of running the city.

“I don’t know what the other mayors do, but I know what our mayor does in this city and our mayor is very active in our community,” said Councilman Ken Brown.

“I’m not disputing that, but those mayors are getting paid as part of a mayor/council form of government. We have a city administrator,” Melan said.

Panto said while Campos is in charge of day-to-day operations he still needs the approval and oversight of the mayor.

“I have no problem with what you want to do with the mayor’s salary, because frankly, I made a hell of a lot more money in private industry,” said Panto, who also claimed that Easton City Council members “are the highest paid in the state” in addition to getting health benefits.

“I wouldn’t be here if I was here for the money. It’s a pittance compared to the amount of hours you put in. If you really want to do your job, you need to be in Harrisburg and Washington getting money,” Panto said.

According to Easton’s charter, duties of the mayor include presiding over meetings of the City Council; representing the city in intergovernmental relationships; appointments to citizen advisory boards and commissions; presenting an annual state of the city address and facilitating council in the development of policies and longterm goals for the city.

The mayor is considered the “chief executive officer” of the city, the charter says.

The city administrator “shall be the chief administrative and operating officer of the city, responsible to the mayor and council for the management of all city affairs ...” the charter says.

Duties include hiring and suspending city employees, preparing the annual budget and supervising the administration of all departments.

To compare Panto’s salary to other cities, the mayor of Allentown makes $95,000 and the mayor of Bethlehem makes $90,500.

Easton’s charter requires any salary changes be adopted six months before new elected officials take office, Panto told The Morning Call in January.

The proposal that was adopted Wednesday also included increasing the part-time controller’s salary by $1,000 to $22,389 per year. Salaries for City Council members remain at $9,371.

A previous iteration of the proposal would have increased the controller’s salary by 40 percent, to $29,900, bringing the wage for the position into line with what it was about 15 years ago, Panto has said.

The previous proposal would have also done away with health and pension benefits for elected officials not already enrolled, whereas Wednesday night’s version keeps those benefits unchanged.

City Finance Director Mark Lysynecky said he was unsure how many elected officials in the city are receiving benefits.