By Rod Hansen
Staff Writer

A study on police salaries in towns with populations similar to New Boston’s revealed only sergeants in Alton and North Hampton had higher salary ranges than New Boston’s.

Yet, Dave Woodbury, chairmman of the board of selectmen, said the town’s officer salaries “have slipped behind, so we are going to pay particular attention to police salaries” in an upcoming review of wages paid to all of New Boston town employees.

Those reviews of employee salaries are done every three years, he said.

The issue came up at a selectmen’s meeting on May 1, when Police Chief Christopher Krajenka requested a pay raise for Sgt. Frank Kochanek, who had said he could increase his current salary by $15,000 if he went to work for the Londonderry Police Department as a patrolman.

Selectmen voted at that meeting to increase Kochanek’s hourly pay by 20 percent, from $20.95 to $24.95, upping his annual salary of $43,000 by about $8,320.

According to New Boston’s 2006 salary ranges, police sergeants earn hourly wages from $18.98 to $28.47.

Kochanek was receiving an hourly wage of $19.73 before a performance evaluation raised his pay to $20.95 an hour earlier this year.

Krajenka said that rate registers among the bottom tier of all sergeants’ pay in the survey. Also, Kochanek’s job title does not reflect his duty, Krajenka added.

“Sgt. Kochanek is second in command at the police department. That’s what we were asking selectmen to consider when we asked for the pay raise,” Krajenka said.

Although Kochanek’s pay was at the low end of the scale for sergeants’ pay in the survey, the New Boston pay range for the position of sergeant is higher than all but two of the departments which responded to the study Krajenka presented to selectmen that night.

The study contains information on police salaries in towns with populations within 500 residents of New Boston’s.

Sergeants in Alton earn hourly wages from $26.26 to $34.26. In North Hampton, sergeants’ pay ranges from $22.01 to $31.09.

Sergeants in the similarly sized towns of Allenstown, Auburn, Brookline, Danville, Enfield, Haverhill, Hillsborough and Wakefield all had lower final hourly wage ceilings than in New Boston.

Krajenka also provided selectmen with a report compiled by former interim Police Chief Bruce MacDougall, who is also a consultant for Municipal Resources Inc. MacDougall worked as New Boston’s police chief from March through November of last year.

“Over the years, it appears the police department has not kept pace with the costs associated with providing quality service to the community,” Mac- Dougall’s report said.

“Personnel and overtime line items require adjustment,” the report said. The specific issue of police officer salaries is not addressed in the report.

Selectmen will review police salaries for 2007 using the numbers provided by Krajenka as well as other data compiled by Town Administrator Burton Reynolds, Woodbury said.