Tarentum rewards new borough manager with 26 percent pay raise

Tarentum officials are happy with the performance of the borough's new manager and gave him a hefty raise to keep him.

Council approved a new contract with Manager Michael Nestico that increases his pay by $17,000, from $65,000 to $82,000 — a 26 percent increase.

“I really like the position. I think there's a lot of potential in this community,” Nestico said Friday. “When they came to me with this offer, it really solidified my desire to stay here and continue working on the things we've started.”

Council hired Nestico, 35, of Jeannette in December to a two-year contract that runs through Dec. 31, 2019. That has not changed.

“He's been great. Everybody has been able to work really well with him,” Council President Erika Josefoski said Friday. “We're very happy with the job he's done. We hope to be able to retain him for quite some time.”

Under his initial contract, Nestico was eligible for a 3 percent raise at the end of June. That would have increased his pay to $67,000.

“We hired him at a lower rate of pay than we planned on paying him,” Josefoski said. “We had agreed upon giving him a raise after six months, to see what he could accomplish in that time.”

In setting his new salary, Josefoski said officials looked at what municipalities comparable to Tarentum are paying and considered what the borough could afford.

“We wanted to make sure we were remaining competitive,” she said. “He has been such an asset we didn't want to take any chance of losing him.”

Josefoski said Nestico has saved the borough money in many ways and that helped fund his pay increase. As examples, she said the borough has saved $6,000 by Nestico putting the borough's ordinances and resolutions on its website himself. The borough had budgeted $1,200 for a stenographer, but that's been saved because Nestico records meetings and prepares the minutes himself.

“He has been looking into what we've been paying for utilities and saving us money in those aspects, too,” she said.

Nestico is an attorney, now practicing primarily in estates, estate planning and family law. Josefoski said he has taken some of the workload off borough Solicitor David Regoli, who agreed to have $2,500 of his salary moved to Nestico.

“That really benefits the borough, having two attorneys on board like that,” she said. “They work so well together. It's a tremendous help to us.”

While Nestico's employment agreement provides for medical, dental and vision benefits, he does not take them from the borough, which Josefoski said saves Tarentum $20,000 a year. He receives health benefits from Westmoreland County, through his work as solicitor for the Register of Wills office.

Nestico, previously treasurer and city manager in Jeannette, said he appreciates council's show of confidence.

“When I came in, I was willing to take a similar salary to what I was making previously in hopes I could justify an increase in salary and prove to them that I would be able to bring a lot to the table that would warrant a higher salary,” he said. “They were able to see that very clearly over the last six months. That prompted them to make an offer that was substantial enough that I would want to stay here in the borough.

“I do enjoy being here,” he said. “There's a lot of potential for this community to rebound and do a lot of positive things. They are already on that right track. We just need to be pushed a little bit more and we'll get over that hump.”

Freelance writer Tom Yerace contributed to this report. Brian C. Rittmeyer is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at 724-226-4701, brittmeyer@tribweb.com or via Twitter @BCRittmeyer.