Dedham Selectmen OK 2.97 Percent Base Increase for Keegan in New 3-Year Deal

The Board of Selectmen voted 3-1 Thursday to renew Town Administrator William Keegan’s contract for another three years with a 2.97 percent base salary increase.

The new contract is retroactive to July 2010, the beginning of fiscal year 2011, and good through the end of fiscal year 2013, or June 30, 2014.

Selectman Carmen Dello Iacono was the lone dissenter in the vote, saying at the meeting that it was “not the person, but the package.”

Selectman Paul Reynolds was absent from the meeting.

“We will continue to work well together. The package deal, I couldn’t vote for. We are in a tough economy,” Dello Iacono said.

A part of Keegan’s new contract is a $1,800 increase in his auto allowance to bring it to $7,500 annually. When factored into his base salary, the increase is 4.1 percent.

“The biggest thing for me was the auto increase. That is a huge amount of money. I’m not a fan of people getting auto-anything. I don’t like the town paying for someone to get to work,” Dello Iacono said.

Keegan receives an auto allowance to off-set the cost of his commute from his home in Seekonk.

The contract calls for an increase to $141,500 on July 1, 2011 and to $144,500 on July 1, 2012.

Board chairman Sarah MacDonald said her colleagues surveyed 20 surrounding towns and found the median of what those town administrators were paid. She said the new contract brings Keegan’s salary closer to the median and provides stability for the town.

“We made an attempt in this contract to solidify Bill’s relationship with the town,” MacDonald said. A clause in the contract would penalize Keegan for leaving early.

“It is a fair contract […] and there is something to be said about stability,” Selectman Jim MacDonald said.

When reached by phone Friday, Dello Iacono reiterated his respect and approval of Keegan, but said that he couldn’t vote for a salary increase and the auto allowance after selectmen have reached zero-percent contracts with town unions this year.

“If times were better, I could see across the board increases pay percentage increases like that for all employees in town,” Dello Iacono said.

According to Dello Iacono, the town reached one-year deals with unions with the zero-percent increase, and then a three-year deal with increases of 1 percent, 1 percent and 2 percent in each year.

“Bill is a good guy and does a good job. My vote is not based on his performance. My vote is based on keeping an eye on every penny,” Dello Iacono said.