Quincy mayor proposes reduced raise after ire over 79% raise

Local News

The proposal will revise Mayor Thomas Koch’s expected raise from $285,000 to $225,000 when it takes effect in 2028.

Quincy Mayor Thomas Koch announced Wednesday that he will offer a proposal to the City Council to reduce his previously approved salary adjustment from $285,000 per year to $225,000 when it takes effect in 2028.

Koch’s proposal comes in response to public outcry after the council’s finance committee approved a 79 percent raise, from $159,000 per year to $285,000, in June 2024. The increase, which would have also raised each city councilor’s salary by 50 percent, was originally supposed to take effect Jan. 1, 2025 but was delayed in October 2024.

“I’ve been listening and speaking to Councilors and our residents, and I felt it was appropriate to revisit the issue,” Koch said in a press release Wednesday. “To be clear, this is about the position of Mayor and not just about me; I haven’t even decided to run again. I am being paid $159,141, not the $285,000 as has been widely reported.”

The initial approved raise to $285,000 was met with backlash from some Quincy residents, who said they were given no say in the amount or percentages of the raises for Koch or the councilors. Though a citizens’ recall petition gathered 6,000 signatures, it fell short of the 8,000-signature requirement.

A second petition created earlier this year proposed increasing Koch’s salary to $183,000, supporting an annual 2 percent cost of living raise for all elected officials, and requiring future pay raises to be approved by a vote.

The $285,000 figure was already less than the $298,000 to $370,000 range recommended by a consulting firm hired by the city. If the higher end of this range had been approved, it would have made Koch the highest-paid mayor in the United States.

Koch has been mayor since 2008 and last received a raise in 2016. If the reduced raise to $225,000 is approved, it will equate to a roughly 3 percent annual increase since 2016, according to the mayor’s office.

The mayor’s office cited the salaries of other City of Quincy employees and of other Massachusetts mayors to emphasize the need for a raise in any capacity. More than 200 City of Quincy employees were paid more than Koch in 2024, including the police chief, who made $281,000; the fire chief, who made $250,000; and the superintendent of schools, who made $251,000.

“I argued openly and through the appropriate legislative process that I believe that this position and similar elected positions around the Commonwealth are very underpaid and should be addressed in way that compares them to City and Town managers across the Commonwealth,” Koch said in the release. “This position needs to attract and retain quality individuals to take on such an important role in our community.”

In addition to the adjusted raise, the proposed revision of the city’s ordinance will include 3 percent cost of living increases effective January 2028, Koch said. The current ordinance already has similar language but will be adjusted if the proposal is approved.

“I understand from talking to residents the feeling that the salary jump went too far, and I think the new proposal should go a long way to alleviating those concerns,” Koch said.