PHILLIPSTON – A Special Town Meeting convened Wednesday night saw a good deal of debate around one proposed pay increase.

The meeting was held following the defeat of a $175,000 Proposition 2 ½ override at the recent Town Election. The override was needed to help balance the town budget, and since it failed, a new, reduced budget was needed. The 74 registered voters at the Wednesday meeting voted to approve a new municipal budget of $2,615,000, down from the original $2,711,000.

The Special Town Meeting also included a number of proposed raises for different municipal employees—among them, the Selectboard’s administrative assistant role currently held by Melanie Jackson. In May, voters set the top pay at just over $78,000 annually, even though town officials wanted it set at more than $93,000. The budget presented to residents Wednesday recommended that pay be set at the higher figure.

Selectboard Chair Bernie Malouin explained that Jackson has submitted her resignation, effective July 18, adding the higher pay range was needed to attract the most qualified individual as a replacement.

Opponents of the higher wage range said the administrative assistant should not be the highest paid town employee. It was argued that a small town such as Phillipston, which is almost wholly dependent on residential property taxes, needs to keep wages and taxes as low as possible.

“It’s Phillipston; we’re not comparing ourselves to Athol, to Templeton,” said resident Paul Valois. “The populations are so much greater and the wealth in those towns is so much greater.”

Selectboard member Nicole Gough said that the administrative assistant’s role is very important to the town and connects with several departments.

“That position does help support (police and fire),” said Gough. “It is a lot of work. It is not an easy position. And it deserves the pay that is needed to be competitive so that we can hire the right people for that job…so that we can effectively run this town.”

Town Clerk Karin Foley argued that the person in that position has to know a little bit about every single aspect of the town and every department.

“They have to know what the assessors need in order to get their jobs done,” said Foley. “They have to know what’s going on with elections. They have to know how to bid for the Highway Department. They have to know everything that goes on in this town, in some respects. They have to know procurement laws. There’s too much to tell you how much they have to know.”

Resident Luanne Royer said it didn’t make sense to only increase one salary so much and not others.

“You can do that to the police department, you can do it to fire, you can do it for highway. Why not max them out for the top of their pay grade?” Royer asked. “If you’re making a pay change, don’t jump somebody’s salary $20,000 because you want them to be at the top of that pay grade.”

In the end, supporters of the recommended top pay for the administrative assistant failed to convince fellow residents. By a vote of 46 to 24, it was decided to set maximum compensation for the position at $78,184. The top pay that had been recommended for the police chief and fire chief was also rolled back – with relatively little debate – to the levels approved on May 8, as was the payroll for the highway department.

An article asking voters to rescind a vote taken at the Annual Town Meeting to transfer nearly $57,000 from free cash to the town’s stabilization fund was approved without dissent.

Greg Vine can be reached at gvineadn@aol.com.