Charter reviewers weigh making Norton’s mayor a full‑time job and increasing pay

A Norton charter‑review group discussed whether the city’s mayoral office should remain part‑time and how to modernize compensation, with several members arguing the existing $11,250 annual pay is inadequate for the responsibilities described in the charter.

The discussion opened when Denise Mullen said she had spoken to residents and asked, “Why is the office of mayor part‑time? I think the mayor should be full‑time.” Speakers noted the mayor’s existing pay ($11,250), the council president’s $8,500 figure, and regular councilors’ $7,500; members called those amounts low relative to the duties enumerated in the charter.

Options discussed included setting a new baseline (examples cited in the meeting: $15,000 for a part‑time mayor or a full‑time salary up to $80,000), adding annual cost‑of‑living increases (2–3%), or having council approve periodic adjustments. Several members urged caution: past efforts to raise the mayor’s pay (an $18,000 proposal) were defeated by council and ballot‑fatigue and competing levies could reduce voter appetite for large jumps.

Members also noted the city administrator currently performs many day‑to‑day functions and estimated the administrator’s salary increased from roughly $85,000 to about $100,000, which shapes the question whether a full‑time mayor would duplicate duties. The working group asked staff to prepare concrete salary scenarios and sample ballot language (fixed dollar amount vs. percentage approach) and to show fiscal impacts and timelines for implementation.

Next steps: staff will draft recommended language and cost estimates for the committee to review at the next meeting; no formal compensation recommendation was adopted.