I think it’s overgenerous and just I can’t approve it that way.”

Council member David Gleason

I think Mr. Rainer has done an excellent job for the town. The cost to replace him would cost the town even more money, potentially setting us back.”

Council member Keith Hamilton

Future meetings

The council will next meet at 7 p.m. on Monday, March 25, at Portsmouth High School, in order to accommodate a large turnout that’s anticipated for a public hearing on the town’s short-term rental ordinance.

The council will meet back at Town Hall at 7 p.m. on April 8 and 22. The budget overview will take place at the April 22 meeting, with subsequent budget meetings scheduled for Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday (if needed), of that week, all at 7 p.m.

PORTSMOUTH — Richard Rainer, Jr. will soon be the highest-paid municipal employee in Portsmouth, thanks to a nearly 30-percent salary raise the Town Council bestowed upon him Monday night.

In a 6-1 vote, the council approved a three-year contract for Rainer which will pay him a salary of $185,604 in the first year starting July 1, a 28.7 percent increase over his current salary of $144,262. He will receive salary hikes of 2.5 percent in the second and third years of the agreement, assuming favorable annual performance reviews.

His new salary will top that of School Superintendent Thomas Kenworthy, who is paid $178,209. 

In addition to his base pay, Rainer’s benefits include six weeks of vacation annually, 20 sick days per year, four consecutive bereavement days in the event of the death of an immediate family member, and four personal days.

Rainer will contribute a 9-percent match to his retirement plan, and be provided an automobile allowance of $520 per month, which will increase by $120 in each of the second and third years of the contract. The town will pay the premium for supplemental term life insurance in the amount of $350,000.

While the pay increase is considerable, most council members said it was necessary to bring Rainer’s salary in line with administrators in comparable towns. The council provided a sampling of estimated manager salaries in Rhode Island for next fiscal year that ranged from $156,907 in West Warwick to $196,800 in East Greenwich. Closer to home, the list included Middletown ($190,355), Newport ($191,660) and Barrington ($166,050).

Most councilors also said that without an appropriate compensation package, they were afraid of losing an administrator they said is dong an excellent job for the Town of Portsmouth.

“The reason I will say the pay is on par with other town administrators around the region is because that’s what the facts are. And I don’t just look at compensation for this individual, but I look at what would it cost Portsmouth to replace this individual were this individual decide to move on,” Council Vice President Leonard Katzman said.

Too ‘extravagant’

Council member Dave Gleason cast the sole dissenting vote. Gleason was on the council that decided to hire Rainer in 2015, and made it clear he wants the manager to continue working for the town. However, the proposed salary increase was simply too much, too soon, he said.

“I think in the times that we have here, I would have love to have just said, ‘How about a 10-percent raise?’ That seems like a high number to offer somebody. But this raise is 28 percent, and I think that’s extravagant,” said Gleason, who later noted the increase will have “repercussions” on other parts of the budget.

The increase may put Rainer more in line with other managers, he said, but it could pose problems down the road. “To me it’s always been a competition to get above the (school) superintendent and it’s going to cause us problems because he’s going to want to go up, too. I just think it’s going to create problems in town. I think it’s overgenerous and just I can’t approve it that way,” said Gleason.

The councilor suggested that perhaps Rainer should increase his “workload by 28 percent” starting July 1, and rattled off a list of projects he wants to see finished — filling the empty Coggeshall building, making use of the “3S property” on Sandy Point Avenue, finishing improvements at Glen Farms, and bringing pickleball or some other activity to the abandoned courts near the Glen Manor House.

“There are a lot of balls in the air, and I’d just like to see us finish some of these projects. I wish you luck,” Gleason said.

Local resident Tom Grieb, who said he helped hire Rainer — he was on the citizens’ committee that whittled the list of potential managers down to three — also bristled at the salary hike,

“In the real world of business, an executive is not awarded a 30-percent salary increase unless it’s for a major promotion. When a salary is lower than reasonable comparable salaries, you need to increase it, (but) that would normally be done at about 10 percent a year during the contract life, but contingent upon performance,” Grieb said.

The entire compensation package also concerned him. “Six weeks of vacation after working for Portsmouth only nine years? Four personal days, up to 20 sick days on top of that? Personal days do not even need to be used to go to a funeral, because this contract allows up to four bereavement days for that. Honestly, if Mr. Rainer can be away from work for extended times like that, how can a 30-percent salary increase be justified?” Grieb said, noting the comparable salaries the council listed in the backup did not detail full compensation packages. “How many of those municipalities give their administrators seven weeks off with pay?”

Grieb finished by saying his biggest concern was the message the pay hike sent to other town employees. “I’m a big proponent of people who lead by example. I believe this example gives exactly the wrong message,” he said.

‘Excellent job’

Most council members, however, said Rainer has earned the salary hike, and that it was necessary to retain him.

“I think Mr. Rainer has done an excellent job for the town,” said council member Keith Hamilton, noting that besides the salary itself, there were few other changes from the prior contract. “The cost to replace him would cost the town even more money, potentially setting us back.”

Responding to some of Grieb’s concerns, Hamilton also said the car allowance and life insurance components were common in most contracts of this nature. “In corporate America … I get at least one and a half times my salary in terms of life insurance. Most everybody does,” he said.

The big pay increase was also overdue, Hamilton indicated. “We got Mr. Rainer at a discount when he first got hired, specifically $10,000 or $15,000 … from the previous town administrator, who also had a pretty sizable car allowance as well,” he said.

Council President Kevin Aguiar agreed. “Being on the private side, employee retention is every company’s top priority. It’s hard to find good people, and it’s harder to keep good people. We have this opportunity. Mr. Rainer could just walk away; he could have better offers,” he said.

The town has seen what can happen when it loses certain individuals in key departments, Aguiar said. “Mr. Rainer brings stability, he’s been a wealth of information and I can tell you, he always has an answer when I ask him a question, or he gets me that answer in a timely manner. To me, that’s the sign of a good town administrator,” he said.