NEW: Worcester Wedding Fee Hike Headed to City Council
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
The council’s Standing Subcommittee on Municipal Operations approved the recommendation at a noon meeting on Wednesday and there was, according to Chairman and At-Large Councilor Michael Germain, no hint of the furor and controversy that dominated city hall earlier this year.
Emotion Gone
“The emotion of it has died down since it first came up,” Germain said. “That’s really what I had been waiting for before holding this meeting.”
City councilors voted earlier this year to stop allowing Rushford and his assistant to keep the money charged for weddings performed out of their office, even though it was legal and has been done in other communities. Instead, the money will now go through the treasurer’s office, starting July 1. Rushford will still perform the weddings, but he will not profit from them – although when the council voted to stop the practice, it also gave him a $10,000 pay raise.
“Some people looked at it as a raise,” said Germain, “but I looked at it that he was making about $30,000 a year from these weddings. We just gave him $10,000 to step away from doing that.”
Fee Hike
But Rushford will still be expected to perform the same number of weddings, which averaged about 500 a year. He had been charging about $60 per license, although Germain acknowledged “David was all over the map” when it came to assessing a fee. In some cases, he would not charge certain individuals.
If the council approves the subcommittee recommendation, couples will now pay a flat fee of $75. Military personnel will be exempt from the fee and Rushford will be required to file monthly or quarterly reports with the treasurer. The issue will be revisited next year.
'Some Bitterness'
“It’s a complete change in policy,” said Germain. “(The compensation) had been built into his pay. Whenever we discussed his compensation, it always was said that also made money from the weddings. I didn’t think it was fair to say you can’t do weddings anymore and take away all that money. There was some bitterness and people wanted to continue the fight. The fight is over.”
Rushford could not immediately be reached for comment after Wednesday’s meeting, which he attended, but Germain said the city clerk was “supportive of the idea and committed to continuing the service of providing weddings. That was a feat, that maybe he wouldn’t.”
The council, Germain said, will keep an eye on the number of weddings to spot a significant decline.
The two other members of Germain’s subcommittee, At-Large Councilor Konstantina Lukes and District 5 Councilor William Eddy, could not be reached for comment.
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