City Council approves administrators’ contract to raise top-step pay; board to absorb under-$200,000 annual cost

The West Haven City Council on Sept. 9 approved and ratified a written contract between the West Haven Board of Education and the West Haven Administrators Association that runs from Sept. 1, 2026, to Oct. 31, 2029, after a presentation and questions from council members.

Counsel to the Board of Education Floyd Dugas, who said he was chief negotiator, described the pay changes as a three-year settlement that places a larger increase on the top step — "we're putting 4% on the very top step, and anybody else will only receive a 2% general wage increase" — while holding the administrators' cost-share for health care at 21.5% in the first year and raising it by 0.5 percentage points in each of the second and third years. Dugas told the council the added cost to the board budget would…