Raises for First Selectman, Selectmen to be Set March 31

This coming November is not only when the next municipal election takes place. It's also when top elected officials likely will receive raises.

The town's Board of Finance on March 31 will discuss raises for the first selectman, two selectmen and town clerk during votes on the proposed $264 million town budget for 2011-12. The board's meeting is set for 7 p.m. in the Education Center, 501 Kings Highway East.

If the finance board follows past practice in approving raises, the raises would become effective in November 2011, after the election, and in November 2013.

The first selectman currently makes $127,020 a year, while the two selectmen each make $11,000 a year for the part-time positions. The town clerk currently makes $89,905 a year, according to the approved town budget for fiscal year 2010-11.

James Millington, majority leader on the Representative Town Meeting, said Monday that the Board of Finance ought to increase the salary of the first selectman. "I would support increasing the first selectman's compensation in order to draw in a larger field of prospective, potential candidates in the future...to draw in and entice the talent the town really needs and deserves," Millington said.

Millington said he wasn't being negative or critical of First Selectman Ken Flatto or the four Republicans who have expressed interest in seeking the first selectman's job so far this year. "I'm looking toward the future, the next generation," Millington said. "They're not going to take a position like that at that level of compensation...If Fairfield becomes a much more expensive place to live because of our increasing tax burden, we've got to increase that salary."

Millington said the first selectman was the chief executive officer of the town and was responsible for hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars, yet the position carried an annual salary lower than many town department heads.

Cristin McCarthy-Vahey, the RTM's minority leader, wasn't available early Monday evening to comment on whether she too believed the first selectman's salary should be raised.

The Board of Finance last voted to hike salaries for the first selectman, selectmen and town clerk in the spring of 2007. At that time, the board approved raises that were effective in November 2007, after the municipal election, and November 2009.

The finance board votes on raises for top elected officials in the spring of a municipal election year so board members are voting on salaries for the positions - not residents elected to those positions. Because the board is voting on salaries for the positions, the discussion and votes have to take place in public.

Town Fiscal Officer Paul Hiller said the Board of Finance voted to approve about a 7-percent raise for the first selectman's position in 2007, followed by about a 7-percent raise in 2009. Because each of those raises was good for two years, they worked out to 3.5 percent a year over the last four years.

A review of past approved budgets indicated that:

* The first selectman's salary was $111,408 in fiscal year 2006-07; $120,000 in fiscal year 2007-08; $120,000 in fiscal year 2008-09; $125,730 in fiscal year 2009-10; and $127,020 in fiscal year 2010-11.

The 2009-10 budget says the salary that fiscal year reflected a $1,270 "voluntary give back" by Flatto.

Flatto proposed that the first selectman's salary be $127,620 in the upcoming 2011-12 fiscal year, which amounts to a 0.5 percent increase over the current salary of $127,020.

* Each of the selectmen's salaries was $9,601 in 2006-07; $10,400 in 2007-08; $10,400 in 2008-09; $9,900 and $10,000 in 2009-10; and $11,000 in 2010-11.

The 2009-10 budget says the combined salaries of the selectmen in that fiscal year reflected $1,100 and $1,000 "in voluntary give backs."

Flatto proposed that the selectmen's salaries remain flat at $11,000 each in the upcoming 2011-12 fiscal year.

* The town clerk's salary was $78,440 in 2006-07; $84,000 in 2007-08; $84,000 in 2008-09; $88,620 in 2009-10; and $89,905 in 2010-11.

The 2009-10 budget says the town clerk's salary that fiscal year reflected $1,280 in a "voluntary give back."

Flatto proposed that the town clerk's salary remain flat at $89,905 in the upcoming 2011-12 fiscal year.