Newton mayor backs off salary hike

NEWTON. Mayor David Cohen has rescinded his budget request for a raise that he made earlier this week, under intense pressure with the city facing a budget override and a hefty price tag for its new high school.

Cohen inserted the $27,606 raise — a 28 percent pay increase — into the proposed FY ’09 budget proposal, a salary hike the Board of Alderman approved through a 2005 ordinance. But yesterday, Cohen declined the raise. He will make $97,876 in FY ’09.

“This issue has become controversial and a distraction from the important fiscal issues our city is facing,” Cohen said yesterday in a statement. “I have therefore decided to continue declining a raise in my salary.”

On May 20, Newton residents will vote for a $12 million override to cover a $6 million budget deficit for the public schools and $2.6 million deficit in the city’s operating budget.