Melbourne Beach approves 3% raises, sets $11,010 merit pool; removes manager gas stipend after budget updates

Melbourne Beach commissioners on Sept. 3 approved a 3% cost-of-living and merit increase for town staff and budgeted an additional $11,010 merit pool for six positions, and they removed a previously listed gas-and-oil stipend for the town manager.

The commission voted 4-1 to allow the 3% cola and merit increase for six positions — town clerk, fire chief, police chief, police administrative assistant, maintenance worker and groundskeeper — and to include an additional budgeted pool of up to $11,010 that Town Manager Elizabeth Mascaro may allocate among those six roles. The motion was made by Commissioner Robert Baldwin and seconded by Vice Mayor Don Barlow; the motion passed with Mayor Allison Dennington recorded as the lone dissenting vote.

Why this matters: The change front-loads salary adjustments in the adopted budget and gives the town manager limited discretion to distribute a targeted merit pool for high-performing positions. Commissioners described the action as a way to keep the planned across‑the‑board increase while reserving a small discretionary pot to reward particularly changed or expanded roles.

Details of the action and context

Commissioners discussed a 3% COLA that had been proposed for all staff. Commissioner Baldwin proposed budgeting an additional $11,010 — effectively a second 3% bucket for the six identified positions — with the town manager authorized to apportion those dollars based on performance and changed job responsibilities. Several commissioners said they supported the baseline 3% for all staff but wanted documentation justifying any increases above that level.

Town Manager Elizabeth Mascaro and Finance Manager Jennifer Kerr provided updated budget pages at the meeting; commissioners and staff noted the packet had multiple “walk‑on” replacement pages and that the pagination distributed to commissioners differed from the public packet online. Mascaro said she would circulate a refreshed packet showing the inserted pages and a short summary of each change.

Separately, the commission voted unanimously to remove a $2,400 gas-and-oil stipend and to lower the town manager salary line as discussed in the meeting. The motion to delete the gas-and-oil allocation and adjust the manager salary was moved and seconded and carried 5-0.

Stormwater formula error and packet changes

During discussion, staff disclosed a spreadsheet formula error affecting the stormwater fund’s projected ending fund balance. The packet had overstated the projected stormwater ending balance by adding a revenue-over-expense line instead of subtracting it; staff said the error reduced the anticipated fiscal-year ending available stormwater balance from roughly $2.45 million (as printed in the earlier packet) to about $989,905 after correction.

Finance Manager Jennifer Kerr and Town Manager Mascaro described how the error was discovered while reconciling various fund breakout sheets and that they had corrected the calculation on the new pages provided at the meeting. Commissioners asked that staff include bank‑balance reconciliations as a cross-check in monthly reports to avoid similar spreadsheet errors.

What was not decided

Commissioners discussed retirement options and the town manager’s existing ICMA‑RC retirement arrangement versus participation in the Florida Retirement System (FRS). Staff noted that shifting the manager or certain positions into FRS could significantly raise the town’s future contribution obligations; commissioners asked staff to provide more information on retirement plan costs and options for later review.

Ending

Town staff will reissue the packet with the newly inserted pages and a summary of each change, and the commission asked for clearer bank reconciliations for each fund and a written list of the differences between the prior packet and the updated walk‑on pages. The salary decisions and deletion of the gas stipend were captured in motions during the meeting and recorded in the minutes.