Newton mayor won't seek raise after all

Allies urge him to declare he will resign at term's end

Mayor David Cohen announced he would not seek a $27,500 pay increase.

Mayor David Cohen of Newton yesterday reversed course and announced he would not seek a controversial $27,500 pay raise, but the move did not stop allies from calling for him to immediately declare he would resign after his current term.

Cohen's former campaign manager and a leading political group yesterday urged him to announce that he would not run for reelection in 2009, saying his ill-timed proposal for a pay raise was a misstep that adds to his unpopular image and also threatens to derail a property tax increase sought by some city leaders.

"Mayor David Cohen cannot win reelection. He's already decided not to run. He should announce it now," said Gerry Chervinsky, Cohen's former campaign manager.

Cohen did not address the issue of his plans for reelection. His spokesman Jeremy Solomon said, "The mayor is very busy running the city, and he will make his decision at a later date when it's more appropriate."

Cohen is a longstanding political figure in Massachusetts, having served as an alderman, state representative, and, since 1998, mayor of Newton. But recently, he has been heavily criticized for his management of the Newton North High School building project, which has risen in cost to $197.5 million. His request for a salary hike from $97,876 to $125,482 - less than two weeks before voters will consider a $12 million property tax override - sparked even more anger. Cohen has not had a raise since he was elected mayor.

"This issue has become controversial and a distraction from the important fiscal issues our city is facing," Cohen said in a statement yesterday, a day after the pay raise became public. Aldermen had approved a salary cap of $125,000 in 2005, but Cohen had declined the raise until this year. "I have therefore decided to continue declining a raise in my salary."

Political activists in Newton say Cohen's unpopular image among voters could lead to the defeat of the property tax increase on May 20.

"Unfortunately, pervasive voter concerns with the current administration, combined with this latest salary episode, have made it very difficult for us to get our message out to the voters," said leaders of Move Newton Forward, a group backing the property tax increase.

The statement, released under the names of three members of the group, said "the entire episode reflects critical misjudgments and more importantly, serves as a great distraction from the task at hand: winning support for the override. . . ."

"There is a growing consensus that the Mayor will not be able to attract support for another run in 2009," the statement said. "In the interest of clarifying the critical decision that Newton voters will be asked to make on May 20th, we urge the Mayor to announce that he will not run for reelection in 2009."

Chervinsky said he believes it is clear Cohen does not intend to run for reelection because the mayor did not have his annual fall campaign fund-raiser, has little money left in his campaign account, and gave Chervinsky permission to get rid of campaign signs.

"The override has never been argued on its merits," he said in an interview. "It's always been about the mayor and Newton North, and this is just another example."

But Solomon said, "The issue before the voters is not the mayor's salary, nor is it the mayor's reelection. The issue before voters is the override, and what's at stake in this vote is our ability to provide the high quality education and outstanding public safety and other city services for which Newton is renown."

Chervinsky and some city officials said they were not pleased with the mayor's timing, but thought he deserved the pay raise, considering the salaries in comparably sized cities.

If Cohen had accepted the raise and resigned after the current term, his pension would have increased by approximately $11,000 to about $89,000 annually, according to a calculator on the state retirement board's website that provides an estimate of state pensions.

By declining the raise, Cohen will make less than Solomon and his chief administrative officer Sandy Pooler, both of whom will receive salary increases of 4.6 percent and be paid more than $101,000, as well as the city's school principals and the city librarian. The highest paid employee in the city, school superintendent Jeffrey Young, will receive a 4.5 percent pay raise for a salary of $216,554 in fiscal year 2009.

Rachana Rathi can be reached at rrathi@globe.com.