In Eastchester, a different story on public officials’ pay
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- December
- 19
Pay for public officials seems to be the topic of the day, but in Eastchester, the story is a little different.
There Eastchester Supervisor Anthony S. Colavita turned down a proposed increase of more than $3,500 to his $98,093 annual salary included in the $31.5 million budget for next year, and the Town Council turned down increases in their pay, too. The council members each receive $15,831 a year; that would have increased by $570.
â€Å“I’m here to serve the folks of this town and not for the pay,â€? Colavita said. â€Å“We are not about to ask our department heads and town employees to tighten their belts without doing the same first.â€?
The tenor of Eastchester’s action is a bit different from other pay-related stories, most notably the pay increases proposed for the County Board of Legislators. Look at today’s paper: after public criticism, the board delayed voting on the increases. Chairman William Ryan, who stood to see his pay boosted to $124,000 from $89,200, responds by saying the increase should be even more, topping $155,000.
Ryan’s argument is that the public has a right to expect good people who will be â€Å“up to the task.â€?
But Eastchester is not as unusual as it sounds. Other governing boards and councils also go years without an increase. New Rochelle Mayor Noam Bramson and the City Council members will get significant raises next year — a move approved by a divided council last year. But that came after more than a decade without raises.
The difference is Eastchester’s annual ritual. When other boards don’t get a raise, they simply put the same salary figure in the budget for the following year. In Eastchester each year, the comptroller includes raises in the preliminary budget for the following year. Those raises match what was given to the CSEA union workers, in this case a 3.6 percent raise.
Then Colavita and the council order the raises removed.
This year, the raises would have cost about $9,000, including an increase in pay for the position of tax receiver, a job that Councilman Rocco Cacciola will take over next year.
Colavita said the money will go toward police overtime and other items.
For a full story on Eastchester’s budget, check The Journal News/lohud.com on Thursday.
This entry was posted
on Wednesday, December 19th, 2007 at 5:06 pm by Ken Valenti.
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Admirable, on it’s face. But they still have no control over spending, and obviously don’t plan to.