Selectmen Vote No on Town Manager Raise

The Foxborough Selectmen heard a short presentation from Town Manager Kevin Paicos Tuesday on why during an economic crisis should he receive a three-percent COLA raise and a bonus when the rest of the town employees accepted no raises this year.

The board voted 3-1 not to give Paicos a raise. Selectman Lorraine Brue casted the lone in favor. Paicos declined to comment on the vote.

Chairman of the Board of Selectmen Lawrence J. Harrington said Paicos is looking for a retroactive pay from July 1, since the board was delayed, he was supposed to have given his review in March. 

Considering that most municipal employees have agreed to no raises and no new hires this year and next, Harrington noted, “as a leader, it’s hard to ask for a raise."

In a prepared statement to the board, Paicos said he had done research on salaries of town managers in towns similar to Foxborough, which he said stands at $160,000.  “Frankly, had the board mentioned a pay freeze as a possibility, I would have insisted on a higher base or I would have not accepted the position."

During his negotiations for his current position, Paicos said, “I requested an annual salary of $155,000, annual increases of $10,000 for each additional contract year, a deferred comp payment, long term disability insurance, paid by the town, one year early contract termination pay (i.e. severance pay), and a town-provided vehicle, among a number of other standard benefits commonly provided to other Town Managers in Mass”.  

He and the selectmen met two times to negotiate to his current pay of $144,000 a year, six month severance pay and $275 a month car allowance. They also, “agreed to insert an annual review clause that would result in compensation increases July 1 of each year if certain conditions were met,” he said.  

Paicos said he wanted to be conciliatory and accepted these conditions, “in the spirit of compromise."

The town manager said he met the goals and objectives that he laid out for the selectmen last year and included a line item in this year’s budget with his name on it that included a three percent COLA raise. 

He added that those goals have exceeded expectations and brought the town approximately $1,815,000 in savings and revenue.  Some of the highlights he cited saving the town money in employee health insurance ($300,00), department fee evaluation  ($183,000), ambulance fee income ($300,000) and the Meals Tax ($750,000).

Paicos also noted the unique circumstance of dealing with a NFL franchise.

Selectman Mark Sullivan said, “It’s all about the message. We told everyone in town, no raises, no new hires."  Sullivan said he understood what Paicos was telling them, but if they were to give him a raise, “It would be sending the wrong message to those who took a zero this year."

Harrington stopped for a moment and applauded Paicos for doing this in public session.  He noted that even during his interview process, Paicos allowed his background check to be public information when it didn’t have to be.  Harrington said Paicos is a big supporter of everything being transparent.

Selectmen James DeVellis said that a couple of things in Paicos’s statement, “bothered [him] a little bit." Devillis said, “I took a lot of heat,” for approving the amount of Paicos' salary last year.  “People thought you were overpaid."  DeVellis did acknowledge that the board gave Paicos a “meeting and exceeding” review, but that it would be hard to justify a raise when everyone else in town conceded to no raise. “The economy is just not getting better, next year it’s probably gonna get worse."

Harrington said that when the new school district superintendent and assistant superintendent were hired they agreed to no raises in the next year.  

Brue said that she initially voted against hiring Paicos, but in his review she was his biggest supporter. 

Selectmen Lynda Walsh was absent from the meeting and Brue believes that if they were to make any decision on his salary that all five board members should be present.