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Quincy council refers multiple orders to review and potentially repeal recent mayoral and council raises
Summary
Councilors introduced a package of orders seeking to repeal or revisit the 2023 raises for the mayor and council; the measures were referred to the Ordinance Committee and councilors cautioned that charter and state law limit when salary changes can take effect.
A series of council orders introduced on Feb. 2 ask the Ordinance Committee to review and potentially undo recent raises granted to the mayor and city council. Councilors framed the measures as restorative and aimed at improving transparency after what they described as a rushed prior process.
Councilor Keith moved to refer an appeal of the mayor's raise (Order 2026013) to the Ordinance Committee for discussion and vote; the motion was seconded and carried. Separate ordinance orders to repeal council raises and to repeal annual raises for elected officials were also introduced and referred to the Ordinance Committee.
Councilor Yuan explained legal limits on retroactive pay changes, citing the Quincy City Charter and Massachusetts law. She said salary increases or reductions "cannot take effect during the year in which such increase or reduction is voted" and that the charter prohibits changes that would take effect during the sitting term. As a result, several of the repeal ordnances are drafted to take effect at the start of the 2028 term; Yuan said several councilors plan to donate their current raise amounts to nonprofits in the interim.
Councilors described the bills as intended to restore public trust by using a transparent, data-centered process to compute elected officials' pay. No final repeal was voted on Feb. 2; the measures were referred to committee for deliberation and possible amendments.
