Finance committee approves four job descriptions but sends 15-step salary plan back to mayor for seven-step comparison

The Marlborough City finance committee approved updated job descriptions June 1 for four non-union positions — the city collector/assistant finance director, the city collector, and the recreation director and assistant recreation director — but did not adopt the mayor’s proposed 15-step salary structure. Instead, the committee voted to ask the mayor to resubmit salary language showing a seven-step annual salary comparison for the four priority positions.

The mayor’s packet, citing a Collins Center classification and compensation study, proposed a 15-step pay structure to improve starting pay, pay equity across grouped positions, and long-term retention. The mayor’s letter recommended consolidating some titles, increasing certain roles from 35 to 40 hours and using a 15-step model averaging about 2% per step over 15 years to reduce immediate budget impact while creating a structured progression.

Several council members pushed back. President Austin called it fiscally irresponsible to approve a 15-step structure without fully vetting costs and argued the committee could not responsibly approve salaries without seeing annual totals: “You short change the recreation director by $20,000” if hourly-to-annual math is done incorrectly, he said. Councelor Roby and others said the packet’s presentation (hourly rates and whited-out group listings) made it hard to evaluate total costs; Roby asked for a clear annual-salary breakdown and for clarification on 35-hour versus 40-hour classifications.

Councelor Vital criticized the Collins Center report as subjective and questioned the choice of comparator towns; others responded that Collins used comparable municipalities and regional adjustments. The mayor and staff said they had modeled seven-step, 12-step and 15-step options but recommended 15 steps to limit year-one budget impacts while addressing long-term parity and retention. Multiple members urged staff to return with a seven-step comparison for the four priority positions to allow a quicker approval for critical vacancies.

The committee voted to approve the job descriptions as presented and then voted to refer the salary-step question back to the mayor with a request to provide a seven-step annual-salary table (and the 15-step data for comparison) for the four positions identified as priorities. Both votes carried by committee voice vote.

Next steps: the mayor’s office will prepare a seven-step annual-salary comparison for the city collector/assistant finance director, city collector, recreation director and assistant recreation director and return the material to the committee for further action. The job descriptions are approved and may be posted, but hiring likely will await finalized salary language.