Temporary Town Manager Peter Hechenbleikner, SB Chair Alisa Brewer
Happy headhunter Bernie Lynch suggested the Select Board set the pay scale for a permanent new Town Manager at $155,000+, a tad higher than the $151,000 or so John Musante was making at the time of his untimely death.
Peter Hechenbleikner, at his first meeting as Temporary Town Manager, suggested that it was actually kind of low by eastern side of the state standards. Although certainly high enough to generate interest and bring in resumes.
Bernie Lynch tells SB he's had about a dozen responses of interest thus far
Applicants will need ten years experience in overseeing a municipal operation as a minimum qualifier and there was some discussion about the use of the term "seasoned" vs "tested," which they later went with. Apparently "seasoned" is a term that favors middle aged white males.
Because the 9 member Charter Commission will form this March 29 and could very well create a government minus a Town Manager, the Select Board thought it wise not to require residency as part of the job requirement.
Buying a house in Amherst is of course more expensive than, say, Hadley; and even renting an apartment in town is a lot higher than our neighboring communities.
Of course that alone would give the new Town Manager an insight into one of the larger problems facing Amherst: affordable housing.
And with Amherst being in the top ten statewide for property tax rates, all our residential housing has onerous annual overhead costs.
Timeline to a new Town Manager
But Amherst isn't in the Eastern part of the state. Housing costs in Amherst are much, much lower than the Boston area. Amherst Town Manager makes more than the mayor of Holyoke!
ReplyDeleteAnon 3:21 pm -- exactly!
ReplyDeleteOne thing that may also drive the Town Manager salaries in Amherst: the salary of the other highest paid official, the ARPS Superintendent
Her salary goes up & up and wasn't it just a few years ago that the School Committee gave her a nice $10,000+ raise?
I'd like one of those too please.
1. I know seasoned women.
ReplyDelete2. Responsible for millions upon millions, can easily make good or bad decisions larger than $150k, thus pay is justified.
Each walmart employee pays 17c per hour for their CEO. At 40k people, this is less than $4 per year per person to be the steward. What about some high quality private sector exp? Even seasoned....
Walmart is closing 200 stores. They didn't get their monies worth.
ReplyDeleteAnother sign that we're in a horrible economy. Thanks Barack.
DeleteSay "we pat $X and don't apply if you don't like it."
ReplyDeleteWalmart is closing 200 stores because that is in the best interest of the company which is in the best interest of the mnay employees that work at the very many remaining stores. Every hour they worked they got their moneys worth...only 17c for someone to make them a job, most pay more to their bosses, like any company smaller then 1000 people. Also anyone unemployed would gladly pay 17c an hour for a job. Most folks have lots of opinions about job creation, yet make none, just selfishly go to their job.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, the government gets about $5 plus for every hour a walmart employee works. Just like it makes more off gas than gas companies and it makes more off me than I make off me. Employers are cheap, government costs more than we take in.
Employees aren't paying for a great boss. What a bizarre fantasy. People get starvation wages because of greed at the top.
ReplyDeleteIs it greed? You know for a fact? Or is it just some cliche you apply? Could it possibly be that lower wages enable cost to you, the consumer is kept low? Can you imagine the cost of a burger when the McDonald's minimum-wage goes to $15. I work for 40 years and I'm making 20.
DeleteFirst off, Walmart isn't closing stores per se. Walmart is closing boutique stores called Walmart Express. These are not the Walmart stores you know. They were condensed stores that sold selected merchandise. It was a venture Walmart tried that didn't work. And added to that list are a few regular Walmart stores that weren't profitable and will be closed. Walmart closes stores every year that don't work out for them.
ReplyDeleteWalmart has been failing as a retailer more recently due to lack of any marketing. Walmart always worked as a store that just sold everything at what is said was the lowest price. Other stores have stepped up the game and Walmart will eventually figure out that merchandise alone does not sell.
I will be very pleasantly surprised if we can get someone of Mr. Musante's caliber and character for $150,000 per year. To say nothing of a replacement for Mr. Pooler for $114,000. And these positions, unlike others, are essential to the town's operations.
ReplyDeleteFor a wake up call about what the town is paying for nonessential administrators, look at the "open checkbook". The Town Manager's salary looks like a bargain when we are paying the Library Director $87,908, LSSE Director $88,923, Senior Ctr Director $89,756, Tree Warden $80,928, Planning Director $91,385 - and the list goes on and on and on...
Hello? This isn't 1952. People don't earn $25,000 a year anymore.
ReplyDeleteThey don't?? You mean that 's the the average. I made $19 K in '05.
DeleteAnd Governor Charlie Baker gets paid as much as the superintendent of a $40 million school district and the town manager of a $20 million town. Think about it.
ReplyDeleteLol. Good one. How much did we pay that nitwit Deval?
DeleteDeval made the same $ as nitwit Charlie. $151,000 per year. How much you earning, CAN 1:36?
ReplyDeleteWhat does my 20k a year have to do with it?
DeleteWalmart is failing? Not true
ReplyDeletePeople don't earn 25k anymore? Not true, but 25k is low for a large town mgr
Greed at the top? You mean the govt right...
Many folks in Amherst are in the $25,000 salary range.
ReplyDeleteEveryone living here doesn't work at U Mass or the Amherst schools
Walmart is closing their convenience stores- something Big Y should've looked at as they open Big Y Express in Hadley!
ReplyDeleteLarry, what are comparable salaries in Northampton for dept heads, superintendent, etc.?
ReplyDeleteWell the Mayor is under $100k. Their School Super is over that but I believe the only employee over $100k, while Amherst Public Schools have 10 or more. And even if our new Town Manager is paid $155k Maria Geryk would still be the town's highest paid employee.
ReplyDeleteWhat about salaries in for Northampton agencies, planning, recreation, etc.?
ReplyDeleteThe Town Manager's salary looks like a bargain when we are paying the Library Director $87,908, LSSE Director $88,923, Senior Ctr Director $89,756, Tree Warden $80,928, Planning Director $91,385 - and the list goes on and on and on...
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately for those of us here, none of those salaries are quite high enough to justify an online public stoning of the people who earn them.
What are the educational/degree requirements for the LSSE Director and Senior Center Director jobs?
Many folks in Amherst are in the $25,000 salary range
ReplyDeleteThen how the hell are they living here? Two income earners making that much could barely afford to live in Chicopee. Must've bought their house for $1 because no bank would allow someone making that much to buy a house in Amherst at market value, and now they can't afford the property taxes...
If we could rid ourselves of the hangers-on in this town, and sell those houses to people who actually educated themselves or learned a valuable skill that allows them to earn enough to afford them, we'd be in a different place right now.
$25,000 are probably part-time
ReplyDeleteWell 25K for a part-time, 20 hour a week job comes out to about 32 bucks an hour, that's decent. After taxes still not enough to reside in a private house you own in Amherst though.
ReplyDelete