Who determines how officials and employees are compensated?
In general, town meeting votes to determine the compensation for municipal officials as part of its annual budget process. Once compensation is set by town meeting, the official “earns” that compensation regardless of the number of hours actually worked. By statute, town meeting has the option with both the town clerk and the tax collector to choose to compensate either or both of them by statutory fees that they collect as part of their duties, or by straight compensation, or a combination of both. RSA 41:33, RSA 41:25. City officials are generally compensated according to the city’s charter, local ordinance, or promotion and compensation plan. The compensation of municipal employees may be set in several different ways. In towns using the town meeting form of government, town meeting approves the operating budget, which ordinarily includes an authorization to pay employees, but the exact amount of employee compensation within the overall budget is usually set by the employing authori
