Easthampton Mayor LaChapelle vetoes salary increase council approved

Easthampton Mayor Nicole LaChapelle has vetoed a City Council decision to increase the salary for the next mayor starting in 2026.

Easthampton Mayor Nicole LaChapelle has vetoed a City Council decision to increase the salary for the next mayor starting in 2026. gazette file photo

By ALEXA LEWIS

Staff Writer

Published: 12-11-2024 7:35 PM

EASTHAMPTON — Easthampton Mayor Nicole LaChapelle notified city officials Wednesday morning of her decision to veto the salary increased passed by the City Council for the city’s next mayor.

According to City Council President Homar Gomez, council members received a message from LaChapelle stating, “I have vetoed the council’s proposed mayor salary increase in line with the city’s fiscal goals.”

At their Dec. 4 meeting, the council decided in a 5-3 vote to increase the salary of the city’s next mayor to a ceiling of $120,000 yearly. The initial pay scale recommended by the City Council Finance Committee would entitle the future mayor to $93,000 effective Jan. 1, 2026, $96,000 effective Jan. 1, 2027, $99,000 effective Jan. 1, 2028 and $102,000 effective Jan. 1, 2029, but council members expressed concerns that this amount was not commensurate with the duties of the mayor.

Echoing concerns about the mayor’s salary, Councilor James Kwiecinski proposed an amendment to the next mayor’s pay scale, upping the amounts to $100,000 in January 2026, $107,500 in January 2027, $112,500 in January 2028 and $120,000 in January 2029. This amendment was both approved and passed with a 5-3 vote. The increase would coincide with the election of a new mayor and the start of that four year term on Jan. 1, 2026.

On the current mayoral pay scale, LaChapelle will start earning $90,000 a year on Jan. 1, 2025, up from $87,000.

LaChapelle told the Gazette that she vetoed the increase because it presents “a really big jump with our budget,” and that it is “totally inconsistent” with the city’s usual salary practices. She acknowledged the argument made by some councilors that the current mayoral salary is below that of the superintendent, but was unconvinced by it.

“You are a public servant, and it is our job … to shepherd the best possible quality of life for our citizens, and that does not have a value comparable to any other paid position,” LaChapelle said. “A city is not a company … this is more something you do for public good.”

During the council meeting, some concern was raised regarding finding funding for the amended salary increase while the city faces a $1.8 million budget deficit, but LaChapelle said that this deficit was expected, and did not factor directly into her veto decision. She stated that the city had planned for this “fiscal cliff” at the conclusion of federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding.

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“We knew that at the end of our ARPA money there would be kind of a deficit,” said LaChapelle. “We planned for it.”

Gomez seconded the sentiment that this deficit was not a surprise, stating “we’re expecting that the revenue will come in and the budget will be balanced without taking funding from other accounts, savings accounts.”

LaChapelle explained that while she has the authority to veto the mayoral salary, she cannot veto proposed City Council salaries once those are decided upon.

“For those to go up as dramatically as proposed with the mayor salary, it would be a misdirection of municipal funds,” she said.

Should the city council decide to overturn LaChapelle’s veto, two-thirds of the council would have to vote to do so. The matter is being put on the agenda for a future City Council meeting.

Alexa Lewis can be reached at alewis@gazettenet.com.