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Council requests administration revisit assessor board chair stipend in FY26 budget
Summary
Councilors asked the mayor to reconsider a proposed increase to the board of assessors chair stipend and to explore reinstating a temporary special‑municipal‑employee arrangement for mentoring the new director; the council requested an amended budget from administration before final action.
Councilors on May 28 questioned an increased compensation allocation for the chair of the board of assessors and asked the administration to provide an amended FY26 budget to clarify whether transitional mentoring should be paid through a stipend or via a temporary special‑municipal‑employee arrangement.
The council heard from the assessors’ office and board chair in a departmental review. The mayor had ended a special‑municipal‑employee designation that previously compensated the chair for mentoring and then reflected additional time in the chair stipend in the FY26 draft. Several councilors said they preferred retaining a short-term special appointment and paying for mentoring through that route rather than raising the ongoing stipend for the chair.
Councilor VanCamp said she would “much prefer to have the individual who’s providing the mentoring do so under the paradigm of a special municipal employee” rather than enlarge the chair’s stipend. The mayor’s office agreed to discuss options and to return to the council with a revised budget sheet or a supplemental appropriation proposal that would reflect the mayor’s preferred mechanism for compensating transitional mentoring.
The council voted to ask administration to provide updated budget language for the assessor’s office and to hold further action on that line until the administration responds. The request does not immediately change appropriations; it requests a follow-up document to be considered before finalizing FY26 decisions.
