Salary Ranges, Stipends Change In Manchester

Manchester Town Hall (Photo by Micromedia Publications)

MANCHESTER – At a recent Township Council meeting, the council approved a set of salary and stipend changes.

Many of the pay ranges didn’t change. Here are the ones that did:

  • Assistant municipal clerk position was removed.
  • Alternate deputy registrar, back-up utilities operator, and biohazard remediator are new stipends to be added to other employees, to the tune of $2,500, $5,000, and $2,500 respectively.
  • Chief of police max salary went from $185,000 to $216,200.
  • Confidential aide, at $15-$25 an hour, is a part time position that already existed but needed to be in the ordinance.
  • Court administrator’s minimum salary was increased from $40,000 to $55,000. The maximum stays the same, at $100,000.
  • Deputy emergency management coordinator used to be $2,500 to $5,000, but now will just be $2,500
  • Deputy registrar of vital statistics used to be $2,500 to $5,000, but now will just be $5,000.
  • Deputy treasurer’s maximum increased from $50,000 to $70,000.
  • Chief financial officer’s maximum increased from $125,000 to $130,000.
  • Director of Public Works maximum increased from $165,000 to $170,000.
  • Personnel officer’s maximum increased from $85,000 to $90,000.
  • Public safety director used to have a range of $1 to $1,500. Now, it’s just a $1 stipend.
  • Recycling coordinator is a stipend of $2,500.
  • Registrar of vital statistics had a range of $5,000 to $7,500. Now, it’s a flat $10,000 stipend.
  • Tax search officer is a stipend of $2,500.
  • Utilities operator is a new stipend, within the range of $5,000 and $20,000.
  • The veterans coordinator stipend of $5,000 was removed.

Council President Craig Wallis said that the salary ranges need to be set in order to keep limits during negotiation. The maximums are put in place to protect taxpayers, but the increases to the maximums are put there as a result of negotiations.

Township Council Pay

The members of the Township Council used to have a pay scale in which they made between $8,000 and $11,500 the first year, $9,000 to $12,500 the next, and then a range of $10,000 to $13,500 for every year since. There was also language that would include a base wage increase equal to the annual Social Security cost of living allowance, but it is unclear if this actually was given.

The new ordinance pays council members $12,000. Salary ranges were removed. There is no cost of living adjustment. The council president would make an additional $2,500 and the vice president would make an additional $1,500.

Business administrator Donna Markulic reported that currently, the council members are making $12,000. The council president makes $14,500 and the vice president (Joan Brush) makes $13,500. The ordinance won’t increase their salaries.

On a related note, the mayor’s salary is $35,000. None of these elected officials are taking full health insurance from their positions, but Markulic said Wallis is on the township’s dental plan.

Wallis described the council position as a very busy part time job where a member is expected to spend many hours every week speaking to constituents and helping them in various ways.