Framingham council approves nonunion pay-placement plan and $89,750 salary‑reserve transfer

The Framingham City Council voted on April 1 to adopt a citywide nonunion classification placement and to fund the immediate FY2025 cost with $89,750 from the salary reserve.

The action follows a consultant‑led classification and compensation study of nonunion positions. Councilor Adam King, chair of the finance subcommittee, said the council considered multiple placement scenarios and selected a compromise “yellow” column that implements consultant grade recommendations while moderating step placements to keep the proposal affordable.

“Ultimately, after a lot of talk about what the goals of the survey were and what they were trying to achieve, while at the same time making it affordable and equitable, our recommendation is that we adopt the yellow column dated March 12, 2025,” Councilor King said.

The adopted placement moves certain positions into new grades and places incumbents on steps consistent with the city’s personnel policy; some positions were grandfathered so incumbents remain on their current pay scale until turnover. City officials said the placement approach preserves internal equity and avoids the large one‑time jumps that would have occurred under an earlier draft.

The council voted to appropriate $89,750 from the FY2025 salary reserve to cover the immediate step placements and to implement the revised salary schedules effective Jan. 1, 2025. The roll call vote recorded the measure as passed 10‑0‑0.

Council discussion: Members debated the process and outreach. Some councilors expressed concern that department heads had not always returned to staff to review draft placements and that transparent feedback to employees would have been helpful. Others noted that a classification study is distinct from a broad cost‑of‑living raise and that the study’s purpose is to align job grades and future step progressions rather than to deliver uniform raises to all employees.

Councilor Janine Bryant said she heard many employee concerns and urged better communication between department leaders and staff during future classification work. Councilor Liam Bruno and Councilor Frank Cannon said the city should consider more flexible pay tools to retain top staff going forward.

Ending: The council adopted the consultant’s grade recommendations with locally determined placement, moved to fund the FY2025 cost from the salary reserve and directed staff to follow city personnel policy for grandfathering and step placement. The administration will implement placements and return with any requested follow‑up details to the council.