Tammy Bakke, Kingston’s elected town clerk and tax collector, told the budget committee she does not enjoy asking for a raise but sought an adjustment after years of perceived pay inequities. She described stress related to prior pay decisions and asked the committee to set her full‑time salary line to $99,000 for fiscal 2025.

Bakke said she began in the position at a lower rate than her predecessor and that recent contract changes for other department heads had widened perceived disparities. "I am very uncomfortable sitting before you ... I just want to be treated fairly," Bakke said during public testimony.

Committee members debated two approaches: follow the preliminary wage‑matrix comparisons presented by a member who had collected 2023 salary data from comparable towns, or use the average of department‑head salaries as a quick corrective. Several members urged a careful, job‑by‑job comparison tied to a formal wage matrix; others said the committee needed to act now to address morale and recruitment risks.

After extended discussion and an amendment on the floor, the committee voted to change the proposed town clerk/tax collector salary line to $99,000, inclusive of cost‑of‑living adjustments. The committee then instructed staff to recalculate associated pension and payroll tax lines and to reflect those changes in the financial administration totals.

Why it matters: The town clerk is an elected official who also performs a mix of administrative duties — including election administration and motor‑vehicle registrations — responsibilities that affect daily operations. Setting a higher ongoing salary line for an elected post raises questions about how future holders of the office will be paid and about differences between elected officials and hired department heads.

Key points from debate
- Data gaps: Committee members repeatedly said they lacked a complete, professionally derived wage matrix for town‑hall and DPW positions and recommended outside consulting or a new town administrator to lead a thorough review.
- Equity vs. equality: Several speakers said equality of department‑head pay is not the same as equity; safety‑risk positions (police, fire) and elected roles have different hiring and accountability mechanisms.
- Morale: Supporters argued that withholding a correction would harm morale among long‑serving staff who have not received adjustments that other departments received.

Quotations
"I am very uncomfortable sitting before you ... I just want to be treated fairly," Tammy Bakke, town clerk and tax collector, said when explaining why she requested the adjustment.

"We need a comprehensive solution," a budget committee member said, urging the town to hire a professional consultant or consider creating a town administrator post to implement an objective wage structure.

Outcome and next steps
The committee approved the $99,000 salary line; the finance director was asked to update related retirement, Social Security and Medicare figures for the final budget. Members asked the select board to continue the wage‑matrix work next year or to consider commissioning outside expertise to arrive at a consistent, defensible pay structure for all town positions.

Ending
Committee members said they intend to continue work on job descriptions and the matrix and to revisit broader compensation policy in coming meetings; the $99,000 line will appear in the FY2025 operating budget forwarded to the town warrant.