ORANGE, MA (FRANKLIN COUNTY NOW) — Orange Town Clerk Nancy Blackmer has formally requested a pay raise from the Selectboard. Blackmer is set to retire at the end of June of next year, and said she is looking for an increase of about 10-thousand dollars per year.
Selectboard member Jane Peirce she took issue with the timing of the request.
“I feel really strongly that we need to follow the compensation study and have a system in place that is fair and defensible,” said Peirce. “This feel like we’re jumping off the railroad tracks again.”
Blackmer said she was advocating for herself after nearly 25 years on the job and receiving mostly cost-of-living adjustments.
“I asked to have the salary increased during the budget process,” said Blackmer. “It was turned down because we had to cut everyone’s budget. So I decided that since (the Selectboard) were going to be increasing a budget for another position, what have I got to lose?”
The Selectboard indicated that there was no mechanism in place to make an adjustment, and that straying from the wage study would set a dangerous precedent.