Opinion

It’s Time to Raise the Mayor’s Salary

The Springfield Chamber of Commerce is advocating for an increase in the salary for the position of mayor of Springfield from $95,000 — the level it has been since 1997 — to one that better reflects the importance of the position today, $135,000.
While proposals such as this often become politically charged, an informed debate on its merits is long overdue. The chamber is hopeful that, after this debate, our elected officials will support our proposal.
An increase in the mayor’s salary has been proposed at various points over the past 16 years. Most recently, in 2009, as the Financial Control Board was being phased out from managing Springfield, a task force of the chamber met to examine several governance issues within the city, to ensure that the city would never again be forced into having a control board manage its affairs. At that time, the chamber put forth three objectives it felt were integral to proper management of the city. They were:
• Establishment of a chief administrative and financial officer (CAFO), whose contract would not be concurrent with the mayor in order to establish some autonomy, and who would report not only to the mayor but also to the full City Council;
• Moving from a two-year term for the mayor to a four-year term to allow for better long-term planning and afford a mayor time to make difficult decisions without the immediate threat of a political opponent; and
• Establishing a fair salary level for the mayor that would better reflect the duties and responsibilities of the mayor of the third-largest city in Massachusetts and to help attract candidates with the skills to oversee administration of the community.
The first two goals have been accomplished. Before the Finance Control Board departed, the position of CAFO was established, and from all accounts has been performing extremely well since then. Lengthening the term of the mayor of Springfield to four years was put on the citywide ballot in 2009, and voters adopted this change, with 69% voting in favor. Now the third goal remains.
In 2011, a task force was set up by the City Council to look into increasing the mayor’s salary. The chamber had a member serve on that panel, and while the recommendation came out to increase the salary to a figure of around $110,000 and then index it to inflation, the recommendation never made it to the council for a full vote.
The chamber has compiled a great deal of data. Several cities in our area with populations and budgets around one-fifth of those of Springfield have mayoral salaries of only $10,000 less than Springfield’s. One city, Westfield, recently acknowledged the requirements of the job and increased the salary for that city’s mayor to a level above Springfield’s.
When looking at similar-sized cities, here are the results:

• Springfield: $95,000
• Hartford, Conn.: $146,779
• Providence, R.I.: $131,000
• New Haven, Conn.: $127,070
• Stamford, Conn.: $150,000

There will be those who will look at a salary figure and equate it to a particular mayor, past or present, and judge this proposal upon whether he or she was or is worth the figure. That not only misses the point, but is also shortsighted in determining what is best for this city moving forward. The salary is a reflection of the job. The mayor oversees a city with 6,000 employees and a budget in excess of $550 million.
At present, 113 city employees earn more than the mayor, who is on duty 24 hours a day, seven days a week to not only plan and oversee operations, but to be able to react to all that can and does go wrong in major urban areas. The mayor makes countless decisions, oftentimes difficult and unpopular. A mayor is also in the best position to develop a strategic vision for our city and lead the effort to fulfill that vision.
Let’s try to put politics aside for this vote and set the salary for the position of mayor of Springfield at a level that reflects the duties of the job and encourages those with the skills necessary to run for the position.

Jeffrey Ciuffreda is executive director of the Affiliated Chambers of Commerce of Greater Springfield.