wickedlocalnewton.

com Wednesday, February 17, 2010 Newton TAB, Page 19

N EWTON L IFE
City salaries, side by side
By Dan Atkinson significant part of most contract negotiations and an addi- isons have to take a multitude of factors into account. While
STAFF WRITER
tional cost of more than $10 million for most municipal Newton’s social and economic status might be comparable to

L ast year, Newton residents paid more than $67 mil-

lion in salaries to teachers. They paid $13 million
for firefighter salaries, and $10 million in police and
traffic officer salaries.
All of those contracts are up for negotiation this year.
With personnel costs accounting for 80 percent of Newton’s
budget and the city facing a possible $11 million budget
gap, how those contracts match up with neighboring com-
munities will come under increasing scrutiny.
“I think both union-side and city negotiators will look
very closely at what is happening in other communities,”
said Alderman Ruthanne Fuller. “You absolutely have to be
aware of what is happening in other cities and towns.”
The TAB took a look at several neighboring communities
and how their police, fire and teacher salaries compare with
Newton’s. The choices were purposefully varied and not in-
tended to be definitive bases for comparison. Only base
salaries were used for comparison — details, overtime, edu-
cation benefits and other additions were not part of the sur-
vey. But the TAB survey also included how much employ-
ees and employers contribute in health-care benefits — a
budgets.
In an interview last week, Mayor Setti Warren said he was
not looking at changing retiree health-care benefits, but was
committed to bringing the cost of health care down within
the city. Warren has long advocated either joining the state’s
Group Insurance Commission, which covers state employ-
ees and the employees of several towns, or making changes
to the structure of the city’s contracts. Currently, city em-
ployees pay 20 percent of their health-care premiums.
Fuller was vice chairman of the Citizen Advisory Group,
which analyzed Newton’s finances last year and compared
the city to others in and out of the state. She said Newton
generally came out at or above the average of the communi-
ties in its benchmark groups, but those benchmarks changed
depending on what the CAG was ranking.
Brookline, Lexington and Wellesley appear in the Core,
Public Safety and Educational Excellence communities, but
other cities show up only in certain groupings. Weston appears
just as an educational benchmark, while Quincy is used only
for public safety.
Tom Lopez, president of the firefighters union, said compar-
that of Weston and Wellesley, those aspects have little to do
with the city’s size, mixed developments and roadways, which
are more comparable with somewhere like Waltham.
“You’ve got to look at everything,” Lopez said. “There’s no
magic bullet.”
Fuller said the city and school negotiators would have to
juggle three factors — what they can afford to pay workers;
what pay will attract and retain high-quality workers; and the
rate of inflation. That last one has not been much of a factor
because of low inflation nationally, Fuller said, but that could
change.
Warren met with all union leaders last week, and based on
the meeting Lopez predicted that comparing towns would be a
big part of negotiations. Both Lopez and Fuller said compara-
tive factors such as working conditions could also play a role
in negotiations.
“If you have better working conditions, perhaps there’s
more flexibility on pay,” Fuller said. “But I think only per-
haps.”
Dan Atkinson can be reached at datkinso@cnc.com.

LEXINGTON
B: $139M
P: 30,231
ATS: $69,129
PS: $36,802-$50,777
PSS: $61,797-$63,462
PLS: $67,370-$70,606
FS: $38,475-$49,739
NEWTON FLS: $53,094-$57,698
B: $287M FCS: $61,589-$66,929
P: 82,818 15-20 percent
ATS: $70,961 2009 contracts
PS: $41,337-$48,272
PSS: $63,491
PLS: $74,284 Lexington
FS: $45,380-$52,201
FLS: $61,567
FCS: $70,755
20 percent
2010 Budget figures SOMERVILLE
B: $160M
P: 77,478
Be ATS: $66,942
PS: $55,472-$69,340
lm So PSS: $68,508-$85,635

Waltham on m
e
PLS: $96,597-$100,622

t Ca rvill
FS: $48,269-$56,778
FLS: $66,214-$66,998

WELLESLEY
m e
bri
FCS: $74,822-$75,708
15 percent
B: $124M
Watertown dg 2010 budget
P: 26,987
ATS: $71,128 e
ton/ n
PS: $44,347-$52,182
PSS: $64,488
PLS: $75,429 lls
A hto
FS: $43,379-$51321
FLS: $49,887-$58,687 Brig
FCS: $58,548-$68,894
20 percent Newton CAMBRIDGE
ne

B: $444M
2009 contracts P: 101,355
kli

ATS: $71,185
oo

PS: $54,403 (top step)

PSS: $64,666
Br

PLS: $76,303

Wellesley FS: $55,385 (top step)

FLS: $65,918
FCS: $77,784
12-18 percent
2008 contracts

Needham
NEEDHAM
B: $108M BROOKLINE
P: 28,911 B: $204M
ATS: $67,977 P: 55,241
PS: *$41,817-$51,424 ATS: $78,308
PSS: *$55,543-$63,540 PS: $44,879–$52,798
PLS: $69,292-$81,182 PSS: $63,358
FS: *$41,345-$49,187 PLS: $74,129
FLS: *$52,989-$58,277 FS: $44,298–$52,855
FCS: *$61,425-$63,345 FLS: $63,427
30 percent FCS: $74,209
*Salary ranges are steps within 25 percent (Note: Brookline is
grades for patrolmen and firefighters scheduled to move to the state’s
Contracts from 2009 Group Insurance Commission in July)
KEY 2010 Budget figures
CITY
Operating Budget = B
Population = P
Average Teacher Salary (DOE figures for 2008) = ATS
Patrolman Salary = PS
Police Sgt. Salary = PSS
Police Lt. Salary = PLS
Firefighter Salary = FS
Firefighter Lt. Salary = FLS
Firefighter Captain Salary = FCS
Employee Premium Cost = EPC
Source of Police/Fire salaries