Milton amends salary pay table; resident urges council to rein in top pay

The Milton city council voted to adopt Ordinance 14-26, which amends the classified salary pay table and adopts a new pay-range schedule, after discussion and public comment at the Sept. 3 special meeting. Councilman Hawthorne moved the ordinance and Councilman Powell seconded; the measure was approved by all six members present.

During the public comment period, Theresa Masnick told the council the city should reduce top salaries and reconsider new administrative positions. "So basically per the employees that we have, that city manager is getting about 1000 dollars per employee to be here," Masnick said, urging council to "cut back somewhere". Council members debated options for targeting raises for the highest-paid employees; staff explained the recommended approach was to provide a capped cost-of-living adjustment rather than automatically tying raises to the full CPI-W. Finance staff (addressed in the meeting as Laura MacDill) said the proposed adjustment equates to a 2% COLA with a cap on high earners and that benefit costs vary depending on enrollment (single coverage estimated at about $1,000 per month), with a typical pension contribution rate around 10% for participants.

Councilmembers discussed possible near-term savings such as pausing increases for those earning $80,000 or more, but members also cautioned about changing personnel contracts or titles at this stage. The mayor suggested forming a workgroup or scheduling a special session well before next year’s budget to review administrative salaries and hiring decisions. The ordinance and related pay-table changes were approved and will take effect as provided in the ordinance language.