Holy cow, inflation is really getting out of control.
Quincy Mayor Tom Koch’s salary could spike to $370,000 under a recommendation to the City Council — possibly a 132% jump from his current salary of less than $160,000.
If Koch’s salary ends up soaring to $370,000, the mayor of the city with about 100,000 people would reportedly be the highest paid mayor in the country. The Patriot Ledger previously reported on the recommended salary increase for the Quincy mayor.
The city had hired a firm to conduct an executive salary study, with Koch not seeing a salary increase in nearly a decade. The salary study was presented to the City Council this week.
The firm made the salary recommendation after analysts looked at similarly sized cities across the country and took inflation into account.
“The CEO salary within the City of Quincy, when assessed against the backdrop of the compiled ICMA (International City/County Management Association) and current inflation trend appears substantially lower than warranted,” the salary report reads.
“As such, given Mayor Koch’s 16 years in office, considering and assuming a 1.5% longevity increase that is common for many other Mayors in nation, we would recommend a salary range of $298,957 to $370,000,” the report from Dorminson Consulting, LLC states.
For comparison to that recommendation, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu took home $207,000 last year. New York City Mayor Eric Adams made $258,041.
The highest paid mayor in the country has reportedly been San Francisco Mayor London Breed, who made $357,000 in 2022.
The Quincy mayor salary report included the salary of Cambridge’s chief executive: $330,000 for the city manager.
The last year that Koch’s salary went up was in 2015.
“I think by any standard that’s a little bit of a long period of time, particularly given some of the price level changes we’ve had recently,” Jack Dorminey of Dorminson Consulting told the Quincy City Council.
The compensation report also includes a survey of recently filled chief administrative officer roles. Koch is taking home less than the town administrator of Bolton, who makes $170,000 in the town of only 5,676 people. The town manager of Chatham is making $201,281 in the Cape community of 6,703 people.
“The salary that the mayor has is way overdue to be looked at,” Quincy Councilor David McCarthy said. “I think we all know that.”
The Herald reached out to Koch’s office about the salary recommendation.
A spokesperson for the mayor noted that the wide salary range recommendation comes from a third-party analysis from a group of economists — and the recommendation doesn’t represent any actual proposal at the moment.
“The Mayor’s salary has not been adjusted for 10 years, and the data in the report provides some important analytical, market-based context,” the mayor’s spokesperson said in a statement. “It’s part of the consideration that will go into a salary proposal that will be presented to the City Council.”