City officials in Quincy, Massachusetts, voted Monday night to give the mayor a hefty pay raise, upsetting a number of taxpayers.
If it's finalized in a subsequent vote by City Council, Quincy Mayor Thomas Koch will make a whopping $285,000, representing a 79% raise.
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To give some perspective, that's tens of thousands of dollars more than the mayors of both New York City and Boston. New York City Mayor Eric Adam's current salary is $258,000, while Boston Mayor Michelle Wu makes $207,000 annually.
Koch is serving his seventh term as mayor of the South Shore city and has not had a raise in nearly a decade. Regardless, many taxpayers feel this raise is way too much.
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There was a group of Quincy residents standing outside the meeting Monday night, holding signs that read, "STOP THE RAISE" and "CAN'T AFFORD TO RENT. CAN'T AFFORD TO BUY. CAN'T AFFORD TO RETIRE. CAN'T AFFORD TO DIE."
Some held signs that said, "JUST SAY 'NO'" and "79% IS WRONG."
Other signs compared the meager salary increases that teachers and city workers have received in Quincy to the requested salary increases for the mayor and city council.
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After the controversial raise was approved by the city's Finance Committee, people outside the meeting voiced their disapproval.
"Very disappointed in the vote but we kind of thought that this was the way it was going to go, "said Quincy resident Virginia Ryan.
"A salary increase should go to the vote of the people," one man said.
"Is Quincy going to be 79% better now with the mayor's raise? I doubt it," Kathy Thrun said. "Our voices have not been heard at all."
In a statement Tuesday, Koch told NBC10 Boston, "Considering we only do this once every 10 years or more, we proposed a number that strikes a balance between the outside analysis of a much higher figure, current salaries for a number of similar positions in other communities, and where these salaries will be on a wider scale will be in a very short time.”
Any approved pay raise would go into effect at the beginning of next year.
