Selectboard approves $1 hourly raise for non-elected staff, OKs stipend and mileage for code enforcement

The Brookfield Town Selectboard approved a $1 hourly increase for non-elected town employees, raising the base hourly rate to $20 effective Jan. 1, 2025, and voted to provide a $600 annual cell-phone stipend and $700 annual mileage allowance to the town’s code enforcement officer.

The action addresses wages and compensation practices for town staff and a long-discussed allowance for the code enforcement position. Selectboard members debated timing and whether the increases should take effect immediately or after town meeting; the board settled on the Jan. 1, 2025 effective date for the hourly increase. A separate motion established the stipend and mileage amounts for the code enforcement officer and passed by voice vote.

Board members said the hourly increase was intended to bring hourly pay closer to regional levels for hourly town employees and to help with recruitment and retention. One Selectboard member proposed the $20 hourly starting date of Jan. 1, 2025; another member seconded the motion. During the discussion, members asked whether the change should follow town meeting and ultimately agreed on the earlier date.

On the code enforcement stipend and mileage, members discussed alternatives (stipend vs. direct payment of service costs) and potential insurance implications of treating the contractor’s travel and phone use as town-covered expenses. The board discussed past practice and comparisons to other towns’ stipends, then made a motion to create a stipend line for $600 per year for phone service and $700 per year for mileage reimbursement for the code enforcement officer. That motion was seconded and approved by voice vote.

Selectboard members also noted related budget decisions under consideration for the upcoming budget hearing, including whether stipends or reimbursements should be folded into the contracted annual amount for the officer or tracked as separate budget lines. Members asked staff to check with the town insurance provider (Primex) about liability and workers’ compensation implications when contractors carry their own insurance versus town employees.

The board recorded the motions and approved them at the meeting. Details about the motions (mover/second names and individual roll-call tallies) were not specified in the transcript.

The Selectboard will incorporate the wage change and the new stipend/mileage lines into the draft budget to be presented at the public hearing and in the town report.