BOSTON -- The Pembroke town moderator made a costly mistake two weeks ago, incorrectly announcing vote figures at Town Meeting which allowed 13 non-union town employees to get a pay raise, the town administrator said.

The actual vote at the Nov. 3 Town Meeting was 59 for and 69 against pay raises, but Moderator Stephen Dodge announced the vote 78 for, 69 against, reported The Quincy Patriot Ledger.

The error occurred when Dodge was calling out numbers in favor of the pay raise article in one section of the room, he said.

"I read the article number instead of the vote. I feel responsible for it. In the midst of it all, I didn't bring it to the attention of the town clerk," Dodge told the Ledger.

The article number, 23, was far more than the four votes actually cast in support of the pay raises, and was enough to secure the article's passage.

The error was caught, but too late.

Town Clerk Mary Anne Smith put together a report on the Town Meeting and noticed the discrepancy between the vote tally and the announced result, she said.

When brought to the attention of Town Administrator Edwin Thorne, he said he wanted to stop the pay increase. However, some employees challenged his authority to do that and the issue was brought to the town attorney, he said.

The attorney said the article's passage needed to stand because it was read aloud as part of the official record, Thorne said. The town's selectmen also agreed the vote should stand, he said.

“It was an honest mistake by the moderator. If it had been a very significant article, I think we would have really given some second thought to that,” Thorne told the Ledger.

The pay raise was intended as a reward for career longevity, Thorne said.

Eleven full-time and two part-time workers will benefit from the error, he said.