Lynn council approves pay hikes

LYNN – City councilors took their first step toward approving a pay raise for themselves and Mayor Judith Flanagan Kennedy Tuesday night, stressing the salary hike severely limits any retroactive pay they can receive.The 10-0 vote to increase Kennedy?s pay from $82,500 to $145,000 and council compensation by $1,000 to $25,000 came after an hour-long public hearing. The pay hike now requires review and approval by the state Legislature because the proposal departs from City Charter language specifying how salary increases should occur.That departure from the charter – the basic operating document for city government – angered eight residents who spoke against the hike prior to the council vote.?It occurs to me we are trying to circumvent the charter,” former council candidate and attorney Ronald Mendes told councilors.Mayoral salary hikes should take place “at the commencement of the next term of office,” according to the charter, but Council President Daniel Cahill insisted Kennedy is entitled to a raise during her current term.?She should be entitled to what her male counterparts received,” Cahill said.Councilors on Cahill?s suggestion voted to scrap part of an earlier pay hike proposal that converted a $9,600 annual School Committee stipend into a salary and entitled committee members to city pensions and health insurance.Cahill stressed that language in the pay hike proposal does not allow the city to spend money on compensating public officials prior to Jan. 1, 2014. That said, Kennedy will receive retroactive pay back to the year?s start equal to the difference between her current pay and $145,000 – once the Legislature passes the proposal. “This does not mean we?re going to receive hundreds of thousands of dollars in back pay. That was never the intent,” Cahill said.Councilors also voted to make the new proposed pay rates for council and mayor retroactive to 1998. That vote is primarily aimed – said Cahill – at setting guidelines for pensions received by former mayors and councilors.The retroactivity language sets $145,000 and $25,000, respectively, for mayors and councilors as ceilings for computing pension calculations, but the language does not automatically boost pension amounts former officials are now receiving.Former Mayor Edward J. Clancy Jr.?s pension is under review by the city Retirement Board and it could face a slight reduction since – as Cahill noted – Clancy saw his salary rise from $145,000 in 2007 to $153,000 in 2009, his last year in office.But on the opposite end of the spectrum, Debbie McManus – widow of former Mayor Patrick J. McManus – will continue to collect $2,224 a month under the salary hike proposal and its pension-related language.?We?ve got to be fair to everybody,” Ward 3 Councilor Darren Cyr said.Pay hike opponents urged councilors to “let the taxpayers vote on” pay hikes and questioned if the city can afford paying elected officials more money.?This should wait for another year,” Lori D?Amico told councilors.Councilor at large Gordon “Buzzy” Barton abstained from the pay vote “because of my position on the Retirement Board.”Cahill said the proposed salaries for mayors and councilors does away with past pay practices that boosted mayoral salaries with education incentives and paid mayors and councilors stipends “without any public input.”Kennedy echoed that theme, telling councilors she sought a March court ruling on mayoral pay after questioning “for more than a decade how the city calculated salaries.” Former Councilor Lawrence McLennan Jr. also spoke in favor of the raise, noting councilors received $1,500 a year in 1972.In other business Tuesday, councilors received applause when they voted 11-0 to approve downtown zoning changes aimed at making it easier to open restaurants and other businesses downtown and build new combined commercial and residential projects.The zoning changes ban automotive-related and drive-thru businesses but “grandfather” in existing establishments.?As our econ