Saco residents to decide whether elected officials should get increase in compensation

Should the Saco mayor, city council and school board get a pay raise? The city’s voters will decide in November.

The Saco Mayor and the seven city council members are all elected officials. The mayor and the seen city councilors run for staggered three-year terms. The mayor is elected in a city-wide vote, and each city councilor is elected by their respective ward.

The Mayor’s current annual compensation is $3,600, and each city councilor receives $1200 a year for their service to the city, per the city charter. The seven elected school board members, per charter, receive the same compensation as city councilors.

The City Council is asking residents in a November referendum to raise the Mayor’s stipend to $10,000, and the city council and school board annual stipend to $5,000. If the measure gets passed, it would also ask the council to evaluate the stipend amount every six years.

It’s been decades since the mayor and the city council had an increase in compensation.

Former City Councilor and Mayor Ron Michaud spoke at an August public hearing. He said he remembered when the council stipend in 1996 was raised from $300 to the current $1200 a year. He said people don’t run for political office for the money, but because they wanted to help the community. He said he didn’t think a raise in the stipend would be an incentive that would bring many more candidates. He said he thought an increase to $7500 for the mayor and $2600 for councilors and school board members was more reasonable

City Councilor Joseph Gunn said at the August meeting that the amount of work councilors did attending council and committee meetings, preparing for meetings and responding to constituents was enough to “more than justify” the “reasonable bump in compensation” that was being proposed.

“This is long overdue,” said Gunn.

Councilor Phil Hatch likened the referendum question to an employee going to a boss and asking for a raise.

“We are really working for the citizens of Saco. We’re not voting ourselves a raise, we’re asking to give us a raise from the very people we work for,” he said. “Let’s bring it to our bosses.”

If the stipend increases for elected officials is approved in November, the rate increase will be effective Jan. 1, 2025.

Saco, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau, has a population of about 20,400. Neighboring Biddeford has a population of 22,500, according to the census. The mayor’s stipend in Biddeford is $10,000, and the compensation for Biddeford City Councilors is $100 a month, according to Danica Lamontagne, assistant to the Biddeford City Administrator.

Publisher Liz Gotthelf can be reached at newsdesk@sacobaynews.com.