Top three township officials get pay increase

By Dana Casadei

Bloomfield Township’s supervisor, treasurer and clerk received a pay increase from the board of trustees on Monday, January 12. 

The new salaries, effective the first full pay period after April 1 of this year, were all within a few hundred dollars of what was proposed in a 2024 compensation study.

“In the compensation study some of the salaries recommended were much higher than where we’re going, like $20,000-$50,000, and that’s just way too much,” said supervisor Mike McCready. “Even if you look around at surrounding communities, we’re still at or below some of our peer groups; and in those other communities, they either get a car or have a car allowance. So I think we’re being conservative, yet competitive.”

Over the past few months the township has been working to implement the compensation study to make it competitive. Nearly every Bloomfield Township employee is covered by a union, and each contract passed with wide margins. 

This year, the township used the state’s Inflation Rate Multiplier (IRM) to determine salary increases. This practice is used by other townships and cities to set tax rates and mileages, too. 

With the IRM, clerk Martin Brook said that salary increases cap at five percent and can not go over that. In the past, it has been much lower than this year’s 2.7 percent increase, and the IRM has only hit five percent twice since 1995. 

Even with that information though, trustee Valerie Murray expressed trepidation about passing the proposed increase in salaries for the supervisor, clerk and treasurer. 

“I have concerns,” she said. “It’s nothing personal at all, but as a fiduciary for the residents… I’m not comfortable with it. I have reservations and I’m very worried about the state of our country right now.”

Murray’s biggest concern was about the potential for the IRM to hit five percent, an increase in salary that’s higher than what any union would get, something she expressed unease with because of its potential lead to controversy or resentment. She also said that this approach could impact future Bloomfield Township budgets, especially if there were to be another recession, and also considering that at higher salary levels five percent adds up and compounds rather quickly.

Murray did vote no on all three proposed resolutions, and she also voted no last year to increase the trustees salaries but other members of the board approved each resolution.

Both clerk and treasurer positions will now have salaries of $169,309.64 each. Currently, each position was at $164,858.46.

The annual salary for the Bloomfield Township Supervisor will now be $194,153.94, an increase from the current salary of $180,047.24. 

McCready’s salary was adjusted slightly differently than just being given the 2.7 percent increase determined by the IRM. His current pay was increased by five percent — an increase given to all Bloomfield Township trustees that he declined last year because he had been supervisor for less than two months — and then that updated salary was increased by 2.7 percent.

“I had just came in… and I thought it was better to get the employees taken care of before we did anything further for the executive offices,” McCready said. 

Other than an increase in salary, the passed resolutions also expanded the scope of benefits that these three positions are not entitled to as well. 

After decades of providing cars, the Board of Trustees opted to stop that practice in 2020, no longer accepting vehicles or an $8,000 car allowance that some of their predecessors took part in. That practice will continue under the approved resolutions. 

Additionally, as of the passed resolutions, these elected officials will not get longevity or retention bonuses as some of their predecessors did in years prior. 

“It seems our benefits package that we offer our group here is actually lower than a lot of our peers. When you look at what some of the other cities have to offer for city managers or department heads, you all have forgone a lot of those benefits,” said trustee Chris Kolinski. “So I think this is a very modest ask and very conservative, and it continues to show that you all have put forth the residents first and our laborers more than taking care of yourselves.”