Danbury ad hoc committee recommends $165,000 mayor base salary, indexes pay and raises town clerk share

The Danbury City ad hoc committee on elected-official compensation voted unanimously to recommend that the full City Council approve a resolution setting the mayor’s base salary at $165,000, effective Dec. 1, 2027, and indexing future increases to the cost-of-living adjustment (COLA). Chairman Joe Britton explained the figure and the indexing proposal at the committee’s meeting, saying the change would ‘‘take the politics out of having to come for a raise every year’’ and that the salary would be set at the start of a mayoral term.

Why it matters: The committee framed the change as a response to growth and a desire to align Danbury’s chief elected official compensation with peer municipalities. Britton told members he derived the $165,000 figure by averaging top municipalities’ mayor salaries from the most recent budget books and adding a year of projected COLA. He cited the city charter to confirm the council’s authority to set compensation, reading chapter 4, section 4-1 and the town clerk compensation provision during the meeting.

Committee debate and adjustments: Committee members pressed for market data and different ways to calculate pay. Councilman Shanice argued the town clerk is ‘‘grossly underfunded’’ and proposed a population-adjusted analysis that would support a different mayor base; several members favored annualizing the COLA rather than applying increases only at term start. To address clerk pay concerns without raising the overall cost, Britton proposed, and the committee agreed, to raise the town clerk share from 50% to 55% of the mayor’s salary and to lower the treasurer’s share from 25% to 20%. Britton said those changes would keep the resolution’s total cost approximately neutral while raising the clerk’s base closer to market levels.

Finance and operational notes: Director of Finance Dan Garrick described the treasurer’s workload as variable, typically coming in two to three times per week to review accounts payable, sign vouchers, assist with borrowing and occasionally with audits. Garrick told the committee the proposed amounts would be included in a future budget and said, ‘‘you won't even see the needle move on the mill rate.’’

Formal action and next steps: Councilwoman Wallace Smith moved that the ad hoc committee recommend approval of the proposed resolution as amended; Councilman McAllister seconded. The committee voted unanimously to forward the amended resolution to the full City Council. Britton said he would seek corporation counsel confirmation on tying COLA indexing to the charter language before the item goes to the full council. The resolution, if approved by the council, would take effect Dec. 1, 2027, for the next mayoral term.