Newton City Council Overrides Mayor: Give Themselves, Her Raises

NEWTON, MA — They did it anyway. For the first time in about 20 years a Newton mayor exercised her right to veto a city council vote this week. In turn, the city council exercised its right to override the mayor.

Newton city councilors voted Monday to override Newton Mayor Ruthanne Fuller's veto and give pay increases to elected officials, including the school committee members, the city council themselves and the mayor.

In the end, the council voted 21 to 2, (with one absent) to override the mayor on the raises proposed for City Council and mayoral raises, but took no action on her veto of the School Committee raises. Councilors Jake Auchincloss and Becky Walker Grossman both voted against the raises. Councilor Emily Norton was absent.

Previously: Newton Mayor To Officially Veto Council Proposal To Raise Pay

This was the first time that Mayor Ruthanne Fuller will have vetoed an order that the council has passed. The council has the power to override her veto.

The last veto was in 1999 by Mayor David Cohen on a change to the ordinances that would have changed the definition of a commercial vehicle, according to Newton City Clerk David Olson, who has been clerk since 2006.

The city council has been talking about the possibility of raising salaries for elected officials for months, after putting together a special commission to make recommendations. It's been nearly two decades since they last saw raises. Last month, the council voted to give the elected officials - city council members, school committee members and the mayor - raises higher than the special commission recommended.

City councilors are paid $9,750 and school committee members get $4,875. The mayor's position pays $125,000 a year.

The commission recommended a 44 percent raise for city council, a 54 percent raise for the school committee, and a 12 percent raise for the mayor. But instead the council later council voted 59 percent increases for both the council and committee, so that council members would get $15,500 and school committee members would get $7,750. They voted a 24 percent increase for the mayor bringing her pay up to $155,000.

It wasn't a universally popular move. The process was criticized by the League of Women Voters and some members of the commission itself. The mayor formally vetoed it Monday night. But the council decided to override the vetoes for all but the school committee raise, saying they'd bring that one back up later, because school committee pay is treated somewhat differently and would go into affect in 20 days of a vote.

City councilor pay increases will begin January 2020. The mayoral increase won't happen until January 2022.

Watch the meeting here, thanks to NewTV:

Read more:

• Newton Mayor To Veto City Council Raise Proposal
• Newton City Council Votes To Give Themselves Raises (Sept. 17)
• Newton Commission Asks If City Councilors Should Be Paid More
• Opinion: Say NO to Newton Politician Pay Raises
• Commission Recommends Newton City Council Vote Themselves Raises
• League Of Women Voters Criticizes Newton Council's Potential Raises
• Newton Mayor To Officially Veto Council Proposal To Raise Pay

Patch reporter Jenna Fisher can be reached at Jenna.Fisher@patch.com or by calling 617-942-0474. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram (@ReporterJenna).