Hartford city Treasurer Adam Cloud said he will give back a $20,000 raisethat neither the mayor nor the city council remembers approving.
Following a WNPR report that highlighted both the raise and the surprised reaction to it by city leaders, the Hartford city council took up a resolution to return his pay to $140,000 from roughly $160,000 earlier this week. That resolution failed.
But on Wednesday, Cloud changed course. In a statement sent to reporters, he said he would return the raise and any money he's already earned from it. He got the bump in November; it was retroactive to July.
From the statement:
As I deeply value the confidence of the citizens who elected me to serve them, and believe that government should always be conducted in an open, transparent, and orderly public process, I have chosen not accept more than my previous pay of $140,000 from the $160,000 salary that was set by the Court of the Common Council, and will return any increase I have received.
Additionally, I am asking the incoming members of the Hartford City Council to undertake a through and complete review of the salary of the Office of the Treasurer in the New Year, to clear up any misunderstanding and uncertainty surrounding this issue.
TJ Clarke, the Democratic pick to lead the next city council, has already said he intends to ask city lawyers to look into the matter.
One question is this: When the new city council completes its transparent review, will Cloud again push for a raise? The treasurer wouldn't say.
Mayor-elect Luke Bronin also issued a statement, below:
I'm glad that Treasurer Cloud has made the decision to reject the raise and reimburse the taxpayers. It’s clearly the right decision. I’ve had conversations with Treasurer Cloud, and he recognizes that whether or not the raise was legal and whether or not a raise was justifiable, the process was simply not transparent or proper.
Taxpayers deserve transparency and accountability, and while the Treasurer is fully entitled to ask the City Council to review his compensation in the future, there needs to be an open, thorough process before the public eye.
As I prepare to take office, I plan to lead by example.
Under the City Charter, the Mayor’s salary is set at the level of a Superior Court Judge, which would be $167,634 at the beginning of a new term. As we prepare make hard choices to address a substantial budget deficit, I will work as many days unpaid as are necessary throughout the year to return $20,000 of my salary to the taxpayers, so that my salary will remain at the level of $147,600.
