Board of Aldermen Give Raises to Non-Union Employees, Send Discussion on Elected Officials' Raises Back to Committee

Present members of the Board of Aldermen voted to approve and ordain salary increases for non-union employees tonight with Ward 3 Alderman Tom Taylor sending consideration for the increase of elected officials' pay back to the committee on Legislative Matters.

Since August, a salary compensation study has been dissected by the Board of Aldermen through meetings of the whole hosted by the committee on Legislative Matters. During these meetings, the pay rates for similar positions in comparable municipalities were researched, showing that Somerville was considerably lower than most. The phrase coined throughout the process was, "Somerville is great at training not retaining," highlighting the large turn-over percentage of City Hall employees who move on to other cities for bigger salaries.

Numerous financial transactions requested by the Mayor were later approved to fund the salary increases for the non-union employees. A meeting date for the committee on Legislative Matters to discuss the pay rates for elected officials has yet to be scheduled