By Jim Clark

After weeks of study and discussion, the Somerville Board of Aldermen approved pay raises for non-union city employees at its regular meeting last Thursday.

Approximately 150 city workers’ pay rates will be increased after nearly six years with no raises. It was determined that Somerville offered much lower salaries than comparable cities elsewhere of comparable size.

Advocates of the pay increases argued that high turnover of workers impacted the city negatively and proved to be costly in terms of providing training for new employees and getting efficient returns, as far as experience is concerned, from those who were hired.

The Board was also expected to vote on proposed increases in pay for the city’s elected officials, that would include the mayor and aldermen, but a motion was made to have the matter studied further by the Legislative Matters Committee.

While considered by many to be relatively modest increases, Board President Tom Taylor said that concerns had been raised regarding the proposed increase amounts and the categories that they would fall under motivated him to recommend sending the issue back to committee for more analysis and discussion.