Montague adopts revised wage and classification scale

Montague Town Hall.

Montague Town Hall. Staff File Photo/Paul Franz

By ERIN-LEIGH HOFFMAN

Staff Writer

Published: 06-18-2025 11:11 AM

MONTAGUE — To remain competitive when it comes to attracting skilled candidates for open positions, the Selectboard has approved an updated list of wage ranges and classifications for employees.

This change comes after the board began working with the University of Massachusetts Boston’s Edward J. Collins Jr. Center for Public Management in 2024 to conduct a wage and classification study.

“The Selectboard, acting in its capacity as the Personnel Board, conducted a wage and classification study, and then that study made recommendations for the classification and wage ranges in order for the town to remain competitive in the labor market,” Town Administrator Walter Ramsey said during Monday’s Selectboard meeting.

The last time the town had a wage and classification study conducted was in 2014. Now that a public hearing was held in accordance with Montague’s personnel bylaws, and the Selectboard has voted to approve the new wage scale and classification plan, it will go into effect on July 1, when fiscal year 2026 begins.

Not included in the approved wage range and classification plan are police and non-union employees, as they are still in negotiations for FY26. Ramsey clarified Tuesday that the town will hold a fall Special Town Meeting to vote on these wages once negotiations wrap up this summer.

United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of America (UE) and National Association of Government Employees (NAGE) employees had their wages for FY26 approved during the May 7 Annual Town Meeting that budgeted for the new wage range.

There are some changes in the wage scales and classifications for 53 listed positions. The classifications, or grades, are now listed as A through I, with A being the highest-paid grade and I being the lowest. This changes the former scale, which saw the highest pay in Grade J and Grade A with the lowest wages.

The scale will also involve 10 steps within each grade that equate to a 3% increase in pay, with Ramsey noting that’s what employees are used to, despite recommendations from the Collins Center to consider changing to a 15-step scale within each grade.

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“The consultants did ask the town to consider a 15-step scale, but ultimately we decided that 10 was the most appropriate,” he said. “People are most used to the 10-step scale with 3% increases.”

In this adopted wage and classification plan, the highest-paid employee in Montague remains the town administrator, with an hourly range between $50.26 and $65.60 an hour at Grade A.

The employees with the second-highest pay will now include the Department of Public Works and Clean Water Facility superintendents in Grade B, as well as the chief of police, with wages between $43.21 and $56.38 per hour. Ramsey said the Grade C jobs are the department heads with “significant budgets and personnel under them.”

Three positions were downgraded in this new wage and classification plan. The assistant town administrator position dropped to Grade C, making for an hourly range between $39.29 and $51.25. Other downgrades include a DPW groundskeeper and an airport maintenance worker that moved to Grade H, which has the second-lowest pay.

Meanwhile, some positions moved to higher grade levels, with the council on aging director, airport manager, assessing technician and library children’s program assistant all being upgraded.

After Ramsey went over the changes within the wage and classification plan during Monday’s meeting, there was little discussion beyond clarifications on titles for employees. Some of the titles will remain the same, and some have changed, including the town planner and conservation agent being changed to director of planning and conservation, and the airport operations manager title shifting to airport maintenance worker.

Erin-Leigh Hoffman can be reached at ehoffman@recorder.com or 413-930-4231.