Rockport Town Administrator Mark Racicot may be worthy of another multiyear contract. He may be worth $101,000-plus per year — an estimated 4.1-percent increase — based on the Finance Committee's recommended budget.
But it would be unduly hasty for the Board of Selectmen to ratify a new contract for Racicot on April 1, less than a week before Town Meeting.
What is the rush? Racicot's current contract does not expire until the end of the fiscal year, on June 30.
It is not that voters have any direct say over such contracts — nor, unfortunately, is there any real transparency in contract negotiations. They are exempt from the Open Meeting Law, so there is no public access to them. Nor do voters ratify contracts. If they are unhappy with them, their recourse is to throw out the selectmen at the next election.
Still, it would be worth it for selectmen to get some public input on the contract before they vote, now that some of the general terms of the contract are known.
Selectman Armand Aparo, while avoiding specifics, said Racicot would be paid a salary that would be, "in the middle of surrounding communities." That is stretching it, to say the least. In Manchester, the town administrator made $100,099 in 2007; in Essex the town administrator makes $77,000 a year; and in Gloucester — a much larger community — the elected mayor makes about $75,000. In short, the proposed salary would put Racicot around the top for the region, not the middle.
It is also worth asking whether, in a difficult economy, a raise of 4.1 percent is justified. How many residents of Rockport are getting that kind of pay increase? If the budgeted increase proves to be the final number, Racicot's salary will have risen 53 percent — from a starting $66,000 — in the eight years since he was hired. Again, how many local taxpayers, who have to pay the administrator's salary, have had similar salary growth?
The answer to that is "very few." According to state statistics, the median household income in Rockport rose less than 11 percent from 2000 to 2005, from $47,360 to $52,500.
A good town administrator should be rewarded for his or her achievements. But that reward should not be out of all proportion to the ability to pay of those who get stuck with the bill.
Selectmen should take some time to listen to their constituents before they commit the town to another multiyear contract that, based on what we know so far, may be overly generous.
