New Britain City compensation committee backs $1 registrar increase, approves raising clerk pay to $30,000

At a special meeting of the New Britain City Compensation Committee, members voted to recommend a $1 pay increase for the city registrars and approved raising the clerk of committees’ pay from $12,000 to $30,000, forwarding both items for review by the full council and the Administration, Finance and Law (AFL) office.

The committee discussed the registrars’ request for a raise after members said their responsibilities have grown because of state election mandates and expanded early voting. Committee members noted registrars currently earn about $70,000–$71,000 annually and debated how to balance that workload against city budget constraints. One committee member described the city as “in a bind right now financially.” The committee ultimately voted to recommend a $1 increase for the registrars; the recommendation will move to the full council and then to AFL for further action.

Council members vigorously debated a separate request to raise the clerk of committees’ pay from $12,000 to $30,000. Proponents said the clerk would work daytime hours (roughly three days per week) to support a new council administrator and to help prepare agendas, petitions and resolutions — duties that committee members said the council currently lacks staffing to perform. “I make a motion to increase the clerk of committees from 12,000 to 30,000,” one council member stated when offering the motion.

Opponents pressed for more detail about the role, hours and a written job specification before approving a large increase. One member said approving pay without a job specification felt “backwards” and asked whether a smaller increase would suffice to attract applicants. Another asked whether an appointed clerk position could remain nonpartisan if the appointing majority selected the person.

A committee member who conducted a survey of comparable cities told colleagues that council staffing and resources in similar municipalities were substantially greater and said the proposed pay was commensurate with the expected hours. The committee voted to approve the $30,000 pay level for the clerk of committees and forwarded the recommendation for processing. The clerk pay proposal was described in discussion as part of creating roughly 1.5 full-time equivalents to serve council needs.

Both actions will follow the committee’s normal path: referral to AFL and consideration by the full council before any final hires or pay adjustments occur. The meeting adjourned at 6:36 p.m.

Notes: Effective timing for the registrars’ increase was discussed as taking effect after the next election; the clerk salary change was approved in principle pending administrative processing and the development of a job specification.