City Collector Appointment

At a glance

Based on auto-generated captions; the appointee's name is approximate.

What: appointment of Erin Ragusa-Kaitton as city collector and assistant finance director (order 26-1009779).
Where it stands: approved 10-0 on 2026-07-20 for a two-year term, with one added week of vacation. She had been serving as interim collector since 2026-06-29 under a 60-day temporary appointment.
Next: nothing further.

Background: municipal finance roles in towns of 3,400 to 23,000 residents, most recently in Hudson, including the move to the Munis system.
The Personnel Committee asked about scale (a city of about 41,000 and a $226 million budget), counter service, uncollected taxes and linking permits to unpaid taxes.
The salary ordinance for the collector and assistant finance director positions passed in one evening on 2026-07-20.

Finance reviewed two roles: city collector (vacant, moving from 35 to 40 hours) and city collector/assistant finance director, kept so a stronger candidate could be a successor to the comptroller. See Non-Union Salary Ordinance and Collins Center Study.

About 26 minutes across 4 meetings (from transcript timestamps; approximate).

2026-07-20 - City Council - Interim appointment filed; Personnel's 2-0 recommendation reported; suspension and approval, 10-0; salary ordinance passed.
2026-07-14 - Personnel Committee - Interviewed; approved with the mayor's request for an additional week of vacation, and a suspension.
2026-06-22 - City Council - Mayor's appointment of Erin Ragusa-Kaitton referred to Personnel; seven-step salary ordinance (effective August 1, 40-hour week) advertised after Finance's 5-0 recommendation.
2026-06-08 - City Council - Mayor's notice of a 60-day interim appointment (captioned "Brian Dawany", effective May 24 to July 23) filed; new job descriptions for the collector and recreation positions approved 10-0 after Finance's 5-0 recommendation.
2026-06-01 - Finance Committee - Job descriptions for city collector and collector/assistant finance director approved 5-0. Councilor Robey noted the budgeted collector pay ($94,145) is below the proposed step-one rate, and staff described the second title as a succession-planning option. Pay structure returned to the mayor in seven-step form.