Say NO to Newton Politician Pay Raises

We at the Newton Taxpayers Association OPPOSE the Blue Ribbon Commission’s recommendation to raise the pay of our elected public servants. Newton’s Mayor, City Councilors and School Committee members are directly and primarily responsible for saddling Newton taxpayers with nearly $1.4 Billion (~$42,000 per household) in debt and other liabilities. We should not reward their fiscally irresponsible voting records, behavior, policy proposals and campaign rhetoric with lavish pay raises.

Another reason why we at the NTA OPPOSE lavish pay raises for politicians is that we are aware that Newton is currently negotiating new union contracts with its various municipal and school system unions. Newton needs public servants who will put stewardship of taxpayer assets ahead of personal enrichment, not politicians who put their bank accounts and the bank accounts of organized special interest groups ahead of their duties to the taxpayers and who act as though they are the public’s masters. We need public servants who will forebear themselves from bestowing lavish pay raises on themselves to set a fiscally prudent tone during contract negotiations with the unions.

We at the NTA proactively identified up to $70 Million in annual spending reductions and other fiscally prudent reforms that Newton needs to undertake in order to entirely eliminate its nearly $1 billion in retiree benefit liabilities within 12 years and completely eliminate its combined $1 Billion in outstanding bonded indebtedness and infrastructure repair backlog within 20 years. This entirely eliminates what Newton must spending on servicing its municipal bonds (currently $24.5 Million in FY 2020) in 20 years as well as prior period amortization payments for underfunded pension (estimated $25.9 Million in FY 2020) and retiree healthcare liabilities (estimated $16.7 Million in FY 2020) in 12 years.

The $70 Million in annual reforms identified in the NTA’s fiscal reform platform as well as the elimination of $67 Million in annual spending to service Newton’s nearly $1.4 billion pile of debt and retirement benefit liabilities represents a potential present value savings of $137 Million annually, which is 32% of Newton’s FY 2020 general operating budget of $430 Million. If Newton’s elected and appointed public servants implemented the NTA’s fiscal reform program, and limited pro forma spending on core municipal and school programs and projects to 3% annually from 2020 to 2040, Newton’s 2040 general operating budget would only increase by 22% ($516 Million) relative to 2020 ($430 Million). This is better fiscally speaking than seeing the general fund budget more than double to an estimated $940 Million in 2040 versus $430 Million in 2020 based on Newton maintaining its nearly 4% annual spending growth rate without implanting any prudent fiscal reforms. This would reduce future tax increases and enable Newton to have a middle class that can afford to live here in their own owner-occupied homes without having to rely on government mandated affordable housing apartments to live here.

Given that we at the NTA have done a better job compared to our elected and appointed public servants of identifying Newton’s fiscal problems and identifying solutions to those problems, we at the NTA found another reason to oppose giving lavish pay raises to our elected representatives.

Although we at the NTA oppose bestowing lavish pay raises on our elected public servants due to their fiscally irresponsible voting records and insouciant and cavalier attitudes to fiscal matters, we are happy to propose solutions to improve their quality of life experience while serving the public. While many of the NTA’s board members expressed interest in the 8-8 proposal (8 ward councilors, 8 at-large councilors) to restructure the Newton City Council a couple of years ago, I held out and proposed an alternate proposal of 24-32 locally elected “precinct councilors”. Under this proposal, councilors would live in one precinct, represent ~3,000-4,000 Newton residents and be elected by the voters of that precinct. This would reduce the constituent service workload of each councilor by 75%-97% and allow new candidates to meet everyone in the precinct rather than run expensive citywide campaigns targeting only frequent voters.