Why Salary Comparisons Alone Don’t Tell the Whole Story in Melrose

Melrose pays 82% of employee health insurance costs – a more generous benefit than 75% average in the private sector and even more than the 73% offered to federal employees. This adds up to a financial advantage for city employees – well beyond their salaries.

It’s important to remember that comparing Melrose employees’ salaries to those in other cities doesn’t tell the whole story – especially when Melrose covers a larger share of employee benefits and expenses.

City Services and the Politics of the Override

We all know that the city budget is fully funded through the end of this fiscal year. Yet the city is pulling out all the stops in removing and slowing services to put the fear of lost services or ‘gun-to-the-head approach’ as the Yes group has stated in the past is needed for an Override to win.

“The default vote is ‘No,”” said Jen McAndrew, who ran the Yes for Melrose campaign. “As a result, you really have to make an extremely compelling case for why ‘Yes.’ That is why, more often than not, it is ‘gun-to-the-head’ overrides that pass. We tried to do the opposite, clearly, there’s not the appetite for that here”