Dispute over raises in Mount Vernon
Former Mount Vernon mayor Ernest Davis said he had no part in granting $10,000 and $5,000 raises for six employees in the city’s Law Department.
In a story about raises for governmental appointees that ran Sunday, chief of staff Yolanda Robinson said raises for the department were negotiated in the former administration and took effect in 2008. But Davis said he didn’t approve the raises and wouldn’t have supported anything other than equal raises for his staff across all departments.
Robinson stood by her comments and faxed a copy of a letter to back her claim. In the Dec. 18, 2007 letter, a member of the legal team asked Davis for raises based on the employees’ long hours and hard work, and the salary of their counterparts in the county. The letter shows that conversation took place under Davis, but isn’t proof that raises were settled under the former mayor. The City Council approved the raises in January, but it’s still unclear which mayor put the legislation on the table.
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Finding out who signed the legislation should be a simple matter it’s supposed to be public information. I’d be interested in knowing who sanctioned these high raises since othe appointees received across the board increases based on Civil Service rates many months later. Did these folks get retroactive increases based on this salary too?
In all fairness, this should be posted next to the story since most people don’t check this area of the site and it is something that citizens should know since the story suggests that the agreement was made with Davis.