Council Gets A Raise

The Cambridge City Council last night voted itself a 35 percent salary increase, bringing each councilor's pay to $25,000 from last year's $18,500.

Councilor William H. Walsh said that the increase was needed to compensate councilors for expenses the job requires and to allow the councilors to hire staff members.

"We don't get any support staff--I think this increase should have been about double for the staff," said Walsh.

He said that city councilors in other cities often get money specifically to hire staff for their offices while Cambridge provides no such funds for councilors.

Other city councilors, however, did not think that the increase was appropriate.

David E. Sullivan said, "My concern is with the morale of the city employees," citing the smaller 18 percent average increase that other city employees will receive this year.

Sullivan proposed an amendment to the increase that would have lowered the salary increase to $22,000.

"My goal was to bring the city council increase in line with the increase for other city employees," he said.

Alice K. Wolf, who voted "present" on the increase, said that she did not think that it was appropriate for city councilors to vote themselves a pay increase.

"There's always this controversy about people voting raises for themselves," she said.

Sullivan and Wolf are members of the liberal Cambridge Civic Association, while Walsh is a more conservative Independent bloc councilor.

Wolf said she intended to propose a change in the ordinance that would make it only possible for the city council to vote for salary increases "only going to effect for the following city council."

Wolf also said the large city council pay increase might make it more difficult for the city to negotiate smaller salary increases with other city employees.

City Manager Robert W. Healy said the salary increase is not excessive. "It's a specialized position with specialized time requirements," said Healy.