Committee removes biennial review from Salem City school committee pay ordinance

The Salem City Council Committee on Administration and Finance voted May 7, 2025, to remove a provision that required the committee to review school committee compensation every two years, leaving the ordinance’s pay formula — 8% of the mayor’s salary — as the controlling language.

Committee members said the review clause is redundant now that the 8% rate, adopted Jan. 1, 2024, ties school committee pay to the mayor’s salary and will update automatically when the mayor’s pay is changed. A committee member summarized the change by saying the existing text was “unnecessarily wordy” and that the ordinance can stop at the sentence “that salary shall be paid to members biweekly.”

Councilor Cohen moved to strike all language after the line setting biweekly pay; Councilor Mercillo seconded the motion. After brief discussion — including a clarification that the 8% figure was added in January 2024 — the motion carried on a voice vote. The committee did not provide a recorded roll-call tally in the public transcript.

The amended ordinance retains the formula that “members of the school committee, with the exception of the mayor, shall receive a salary equal to 8% of the salary of the mayor, in effect January 1 each year,” and specifies biweekly payment. Committee members said the prior requirement that the Committee on Administration and Finance review and report compensation to the full City Council no later than the first meeting in May for the subsequent two fiscal years is no longer necessary because the percentage is fixed relative to the mayor’s salary.

The item was handled as part of the committee’s regular agenda and concluded before the meeting moved into an executive session to address a separate licensing matter.