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As Gloucester's city councilors wrestle with how to handle the excessive pay hikes included for department heads in Mayor Carolyn Kirk's fiscal 2013 budget proposal (see related news story), here's a real-world guideline:
The only time a sitting administration appointee should get a boost beyond the 5.5 percent mark — the three-year total granted city firefighters under their new contract memorandum — would be if such a boost were mandated by the new pay ranges approved by the council in March.
As we noted Monday, salary hikes for the incoming fire and police chiefs makes sense given they can attract — and have drawn — strong candidates for vacant positions. But raises of 15 percent to 29 percent for current appointees create a chasm between department heads and city workers — something the city should try to prevent.
