Romney says he'll forgo salary as governor

"It's just not an option for a lot of people or even state legislators," he said. "We saw a campaign when they broke all kinds of records on their spending. Maybe he should have put $6 million into one of the budget items he's going to cut."

Romney still plans to fill two agency director positions — for economic development and labor — and intends to transfer responsibilities for homeland security to the public safety secretary.

Healey had made no earlier promises, but she said Tuesday that the decision was made so that she and Romney could recruit the best candidates.

"Because we're facing a fiscal crisis, we don't want our desire to have the best possible team in place to cause an additional burden to the taxpayers," she said in a statement.

Barbara Anderson, executive director of Citizens for Limited Taxation and Government, praised the move by the incoming administration as evidence of "character and common sense."

"I don't think that it should make people who aren't independently wealthy feel bad, should there be a governor in the future who would not be able to do that," Anderson said. "But it's nice for people in this situation to not only help save the Commonwealth money, but to make it easier to pay Cabinet secretaries more, which I think is a valid concern."

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Stephanie Ebbert can be reached at ebbert@globe.com.