Personnel panel makes it official: No raise for Rilling

NORWALK, Conn. – During the 2013 mayoral campaign, then-candidate Harry Rilling made it known that, if elected, he would turn down a $23,944 pay raise approved last year by the Common Council.

Wednesday night, his rejection of the raise became official. At a special meeting of the councils’ Personnel Committee, a change to the Pay Plan was approved that allowed Rilling to not accept the increase in his salary.

“He declined an increase … retroactively to 12/31/2013 thru 11/17/2015,” Council Minority Leader John Igneri (D-District E) said in an email. Igneri also sits on the Personnel Committee.

The savings to the city equals about $48,000.

Rilling had repeatedly reaffirmed his intention to reject the raise before and after his election. “I’m not taking any pay raise for the duration of my term as mayor,” he repeated Thursday. He recently told NancyOnNorwalk hs had sent emails to the council and the Finance Department reminding them he did not intend to accept the pay increase and that it should not be included in his upcoming paychecks.