City Council Candidate Juan F. Latorre III Opposes Vote to Increase Springfield City Council Compensation
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Full Text of Press Release Below:
CITY COUNCIL CANDIDATE JUAN F. LATORRE III OPPOSES VOTE TO INCREASE SPRINGFIELD CITY COUNCIL COMPENSATION
Springfield, MA (12/19/2022) – Lifelong Springfield resident and At Large Springfield City Council candidate Juan F. Latorre III has issued the following statement in response to the Springfield City Council’s decision to increase the compensation of a City Councilor by 43.5%, to $28,000.
“I am disappointed with the City Council’s decision to vote for a significant increase in compensation for City Councilors and oppose this decision. While I am not opposed to an increase in compensation after ten years without one, I am opposed to the timing, the lack of transparency throughout the process, the total increase, the metrics used to determine the increase, and the immediate impact on an already strained municipal budget,” said Latorre III.
Mr. Latorre has identified three key issues that, when properly addressed, would have resulted in a more fair and equitable process for city residents and City Councilors.
“First, this process was intentionally buried to avoid public input around a potentially controversial topic. It was a purposeful choice to vote for this increase in compensation as the last item on the agenda during the last meeting of the 2022 legislative session. The Council could have instead chosen to delay this vote to a time where they were likely to receive greater public input, or could have identified key moments for public input throughout the process prior to a vote. That this vote comes during a time of record inflation, and on the heels of a tax rate vote which will once again saddle homeowners with a nearly two-hundred dollar increase in property taxes (on average) is troubling.”
“Secondly, the proposed increase in compensation represents a 4.35% annual increase for City Councilors. I cannot support such a large increase in compensation, while the majority of City employees can only expect 2% annual increases, including our paraeducators, police officers, firefighters, and DPW employees. A 2.5% annual increase over 10 years would have yielded approximate compensation of $25,000.”
“Finally, as a matter of procedure, a better solution would have spread out a more modest increase in compensation over several years, instead of an ‘all at once’ approach. While the approximate $200,000 overall increase in compensation across the three bodies (City Council, Mayor, and School Committee) is small in comparison to an $819M budget, it comes at a time where Springfield is struggling to fully fund its’ pension liabilities, maintain essential services, and invest in aging infrastructure.”