MONTAGUE — The Selectboard was supportive of a standard 12% increase to department stipends proposed by Finance Committee members, who cited a desire for increased consistency in compensating town officials.
Finance Committee Chair Francia Wisnewski said the proposed universal standard percent increase to these stipends was a matter of improving the town’s consistency in accommodating inflation and general cost-of-living changes. Stipends had previously been reviewed over five-year periods, with the last adjustment having gone into effect in fiscal year 2019.
The change proposed at Monday’s Selectboard meeting would take effect in FY25 and affect 14 positions, including the Selectboard, Board of Assessors and Board of Health. It would change the review period from five to three years and be the first time Montague uses a standard percent increase across all departments, except for those that already received a stipend increase at this year’s Annual Town Meeting.
“Hopefully, this will be a foundation for upcoming conversations,” Wisnewski said.
Wisnewski described the stipends as “a token to increase fair democracy and equal opportunities for citizens” in a slideshow presented to the Selectboard.
“It can reasonably be accepted that stipends for work such as inspections should adequately compensate the employee for the time and gas spent on such work,” Wisnewski elaborated. “It is also in the town’s best interest to provide sufficient token payments for board members to both attract residents to those roles and to reimburse residents at least partially for additional costs incurred in filling those roles, without which they would not be able to participate in governing.”
Some proposed stipends, such as those for the tree warden, emergency management director and animal inspector positions, deviate slightly from an exact 12% increase following department-by-department reviews by the Finance Committee. The police information technology (IT) administrator stipend is a major exception, seeing a 100% increase to $6,000 from the previous $3,000 amount, as requested by the Selectboard.
In addition to the proposed adjustments to 14 stipends, for eight positions that are paid hourly — such as election workers and part-time police officers — the committee increased the high end of each hourly wage range by $2 “to account for inflation and to provide more flexibility to departments.”
Gill-Montague Regional School District School Committee Chair Jane Oakes also requested the Finance Committee discuss providing stipends to School Committee members, according to Wisnewski. The Finance Committee is in favor of implementing this, but the change requires approval at Town Meetings in both Montague and Gill. The committee is postponing any discussion of appropriate amounts until it is known that Gill is also in favor.
The Selectboard commended the Finance Committee for its work, with member Matt Lord describing the proposed stipends as “well-deserved, well-thought-out and well-implemented.”
These requests require Town Meeting approval. The full list of proposed stipends, as well as background information relative to the Finance Committee’s decision-making, can be viewed at shorturl.at/vEFRY.
Reach Julian Mendoza at 413-930-4231 or jmendoza@recorder.com.