Committee approves moving $18,000 stipend into water foreman’s base pay

The Peabody City Council Finance Committee voted to amend city pay rules to roll an approximately $18,000 stipend for the public works foreman (water) into the position’s base salary, raising the stated pay to $107,302 effective March 1, 2025.

Mayor said the adjustment would put the public works foreman for water “in line with the senior water treatment chemist, the plant superintendent,” and noted the stipend had been paid to the employee for a number of years. The mayor said the stipend would not be reassigned to another employee and that the change simply incorporates existing compensation into base pay.

Councilor Gamache introduced the ordinance amendment to Section 18‑21, “rates of compensation for full time positions not subject to collective bargaining,” and read the ordinance language on the record. Councilor Turco asked whether the stipend and salary are budget‑neutral and whether moving the stipend to base pay would affect similarly leveled positions. Finance staff said the stipend is paid from the water enterprise fund and is already included in the salary line, so the change should not increase total pay expenditures; the mayor said other employees at the same classification were at their maximum and that the adjustment should not create a ripple effect.

The committee approved the ordinance on a roll call vote that registered five yes votes and no no votes. The motion was made by Councilor Gamache; a second was not recorded in the transcript. The ordinance text in the motion set the new base salary for “public works foreman water” at $107,302 and listed an effective date of March 1, 2025.

The action amends the City of Peabody compensation and classification plan; the committee discussion focused on internal pay equity and budget neutrality rather than new ongoing spending. No amendment to reallocate the former stipend to another position was proposed or recorded.