QUINCY ‒ The city’s municipal finance director, Eric Mason, has departed for the private sector, taking a job with the large financial services firm, Clifton Larsen Allen, according to a city press release.
He will be replaced by Paul Della Barba, who has been working as the city’s municipal director of accounts.
For Della Barba, the promotion caps a meteoric rise within city government. He started in the Department of Public Works in 2013, according to the press release. The Patriot Ledger reported that Della Barba received $44,623 in 2015 as a water service inspector.
In his new role, he’ll earn about $180,000, according to the fiscal 2026 budget and confirmed by Chris Walker, chief of staff to Mayor Tom Koch. As the city’s municipal finance director, he’ll report directly to the mayor.
Within the DPW, Della Barba was promoted to the position of business manager, where he oversaw “six individual division budgets,” the press release said. He joined Municipal Finance in 2019 as director of accounts, “responsible for oversight of the City’s budget and federal and state grants,” the press release says.
In that most recent position, Della Barba earned $164,242.55 in 2024, The Patriot Ledger has reported. He earned a $141,115.64 salary and $23,126.91 in overtime.
Before he worked for the city, Della Barba held positions with Fidelity Investments, State Street, Wellington Mangement Co. and Loomis and Sayles, the press release states. Della Barba’s LinkedIn account lists a bachelor’s degree in business administration, though it does not specify the year he graduated.
Mason began his career with the city in 2015, taking the helm of Municipal Finance five years later in 2020. The press release credits him with seeing the city through the COVID-19 pandemic, creating “new operational and management policies” and growing the city’s fiscal stability.
“Eric is an extraordinarily talented young man, and his departure to the private sector was something we knew was inevitable,” Koch is quoted as saying in the city press release. “The City’s finances have never been more stable.”
In June, S&P Global Ratings downgraded Quincy’s long-term bond rating from AA to AA-, citing rising debt service costs and declining reserve funds. Also in June, S&P reaffirmed the city’s negative economic outlook, meaning there’s a one-in-three chance of another downgrade.
On Della Barba, Koch gave the following quote in the press release:
“I’m thrilled that we can promote from within with Paul taking over. He has worked incredibly hard during his time with the City, earned a number of promotions through the years, built strong relationships across every department, and lives and breathes Quincy. He has my utmost confidence.”
Della Barba has supported Koch politically over past decade. According to the Massachusetts Office of Campaign and Political Finance, he contributed $2,950 to Koch’s campaign account since 2016.
Peter Blandino covers Quincy for The Patriot Ledger. Contact him at pblandino@patriotledger.com.
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Quincy loses its finance director. Who will take the helm? What we know – The Patriot Ledger
