Oxford Village Manager Joseph Madore got an early Christmas present last week, but it wasn’t from Santa Claus. It was from his five bosses.

Following a closed-session performance evaluation on Nov. 27, council voted 4-1 to increase Madore’s $72,000 annual salary by 5.8 percent “effective immediately.”

Councilman Erik Dolan, who made the motion, explained that 2.8 percent of the raise is a cost-of-living adjustment.

The remainder is a merit increase.

“To retain talent, to continue moving the ball forward, we thought that it was appropriate to make that salary adjustment,” said village President Joe Frost in an interview following the meeting.

Madore “hit the ground running” when he started the job on Dec. 18 last year and since then, “a majority of the tasks” assigned to him by council have been “accomplished,” according to Frost.

“(Madore has been) able to check off a very lengthy (to-do) list effectively,” he said.

Personally, Frost feels Madore has been “doing very well.”

“He knows what he’s doing and he has a good eye for the budget . . . He’s moving us in the right direction,” Frost said.

Only Councilwoman Maureen Helmuth voted against the pay raise.

“I think this is coming out of the blue,” she said. “I don’t know that 2.8 (percent) is the cost of living. I don’t know where (Dolan is) coming up with this number. As much as I like Joe, I would like more discussion on it than I’m prepared to have tonight.”

Dolan said the 2.8 percent figure is from the federal government. That’s the cost-of-living adjustment that will be given to federal retirees, Social Security recipients and military retirees beginning in January.