Should County Officials get a raise?

[Admin]

DO you think the County Exec, his buds, and County Leg. should have thier salaries increased. Some of these increases are over 39%.

[Angela from SB]

Joel Giambra has a 2 year degree from ECC. The average person in WNY
with that education is lucky if he even has a full time job. Even if
it was full time, he wouldn't get much more than $8 an hour. I work
for Erie county. This month my prescriptions cost $1, but next month,
they go up to $10...thanks to Joel. Also, there was NO RAISE in my
contract.(even though I have a BS from Buffalo State plus 12 credits
beyond that). He even threatened my department...social services...with
over 100 layoffs. Considering the fact that that department gets 75%
of it's money from the federal government, I find it hard to beleave
that they couldn't manage to pay for workers. Joel's head is so big
it's frightening. If he wants to make as much as some of the people
working under him, maybe he should go to medical school or get a law
degree like they did. If he thinks he should get a raise based on
his job performance, that is a laugh. Somebody, please give this guy a
wake up call!!!

[greenleaf]

I oppose raises for all in elected office at the local level until the city, county and budgets are balanced, and the jails are no longer used to house, however temporarily, those with mental illness.

[WNYresident]

Who above the ones asking for these raises do we complain to?

Are the county legislaters the ones that acutally vote this BS in?

Are they getting a little increase to as a "bribe" to vote yes to the increases?

[tomac]

Originally posted by Admin
DO you think the County Exec, his buds, and County Leg. should have thier salaries increased. Some of these increases are over 39%.

Hell NO! These people are bankrupting Western New York with their BS. Actually, I agree with Tom Bauerle as I heard him this morning on his radio show.
Joel's paycheck should be reduced from $103,450 to $85,000.
Schwartz and Gallavan should go from $80,000 to $60,000.
The County Legislature should go from $43,000 to $25,000.
This disparity in salaries (some higher civil service and appointed getting more than their bosses comes from years of giving raises by percentages. This always favors the people on the top of the heap. 10% of $60,000 is way better than 10% of $20,000, but both parties get 10%. Instead give everyone (including elected officials too) a flat raise, say $1,000 or $1,500 per year. The folks at the bottom (i.e. those who really do the work) will get an appreciable raise (better than anything they're getting now) and the slugs at the top will get some extra drinking money and yet, their payrate will always be higher than the laborforce.

[therising]

Sorry for my ignorance, but I'm not up on this.
What does the exec make now, and is there a proposal for a raise? If so, how much?

[citymouse]

He makes about $103,000.00 annually. Last year HE appointed an INDEPENDENT citizens review panel to look at his salary, the County comptroler and the sheriff's salary. The reasoning behind it is that the DA, who's salary is mandated by the NYS judicial board is higher than all the other high ranking county offices.
The INDEPENDENT board HE appointed is going to recommend This week that he get a FORTY% raise bringing him up to just under$140,000.00. They are also going to recomend 50% for both the comptroller and the Sheriff. Just as an added bonus for us tax payers they will sweeten the pot for the county legislature by recomending a 15% raise for them. This way they will be more inclined to approve it.
Joel just keeps salpping the public and the public responds by re-electing him. I pity the public.

[WNYresident]

Originally posted by therising
Sorry for my ignorance, but I'm not up on this.
What does the exec make now, and is there a proposal for a raise? If so, how much?

CE makes about 103,000 Plus an expensive SUV amd perks and they want to raise it up to $139,000 or so...

Its a joke.. Tell me ONE private sector business that isn't in need of a political payoff that would pay that man that much.

[BeFuddled]

Here is the full story, gory details and all from the News 2/14/04:

A citizens panel may soon recommend that Joel A. Giambra should get a 40 percent pay raise as county executive, based on the fact that he now earns substantially less than the district attorney and many of his own top aides.
The panel is also deliberating pay raises of more than 50 percent for the county comptroller, sheriff and county clerk, based on the same criteria. More modest raises are being considered for the county's 15 legislators.

Members of the Citizens Salary Review Commission have been studying the salaries of the highest-ranking elected officials since early January and are expected to reach a final recommendation for consideration by the County Legislature within the next week or two.

The nine committee members were appointed by Giambra and the County Legislature after County Clerk David Swartz and Sheriff Patrick M. Gallivan asked that the review panel be reconvened. A meeting scheduled for Friday was postponed because too few members could attend.

While the commission has not yet issued a recommendation, many members seem to agree in principle that the county executive, who currently makes $103,428, deserves to be the highest-paid official in county government.

"You have to look at the office," said committee Chairman James F. Doherty. "More money should go to the person with the highest responsibility."

Currently, District Attorney Frank J. Clark is the highest-paid elected county official. He earns $136,700 annually, a sum established through the state judicial system.

A salary structure now being discussed by the commission would set Giambra's salary at $143,535 - 5 percent above the district attorney's salary and about 39 percent more than what the county executive's job pays now.

Committee members have also discussed setting salaries for the sheriff, comptroller and county clerk at 10 percent below what the district attorney makes. If their pay were to increase in line with discussions, their salaries would jump from roughly $80,000 to $123,000 - an increase of more than 50 percent.

Under this same salary structure, county legislators would be recommended to receive 35 percent of what the district attorney makes. That would increase their pay from $42,588 to $47,845, about a 12 percent increase.

Many county residents and union employees have said raises for Giambra and other elected officials should not be considered at a time when rank-and-file government workers are being threatened with layoffs or pressured into accepting wage freezes in exchange for covered health insurance.

"If I am working in a profession and I don't produce good results, I don't get a pay raise," said Betty LaDelfa, a lifelong Western New York resident whose son-in-law works for the Buffalo Police Department. "What have these people done in the last two to four years? Can they honestly say this is a better place to live or work? I don't think so."

In response to criticism, several commission members stated that the goal of their group is not to evaluate whether any individual elected official "deserves" or "merits" a raise, but rather to determine what the elected positions themselves are worth.

They argue that the elected leaders of a $1 billion organization should earn salaries commensurate with their job descriptions.

"In order to keep competent people in these positions, and in order to attract competent people in the future, you need to have a salary adjustment," said Jennifer Parker, president of the Black Capital Network.

With the exception of the district attorney, none of the top elected officials has gotten a raise since 1996, the last time the Citizens Salary Review Commission convened. Though the commission is supposed to meet every two years, in practice it hasn't.

For that reason, most elected county officials now make less money than the county administrators who work directly below them. For example, a number of the county's department heads make at least $10,000 more than Giambra.

That's because non-union managerial employees are typically accorded the same yearly percentage pay increases as those given to members of the Civil Service Employees Association. Several commission members expressed frustration that a more routine process does not exist for according annual or biennial raises for elected officials. That's why, they said, they hope to include a provision that annually ties the raises of elected officials to that of the district attorney.

The committee looked at everything from the Erie County payroll and price indexes to the salaries of school superintendents, nonprofit organizations, and the payrolls of other county governments.

They also took into consideration the Western New York economy, they said.

Committee member Peter Zaleski, retired president of Key Bank, said that while many committee members agree on Giambra's salary, some disagree on how much money the county clerk, sheriff and comptroller should make.

Zaleski said he thinks $123,000 a year for those positions is excessive.

"I think it's a little more aggressive than I'm willing to go," he said.

A Buffalo News analysis of these three positions shows that the salary structure now being considered by the committee would be equivalent to what these officials would make if they had gotten raises of more than 5 percent each year since 1997.

Once the Salary Review Commission makes its final recommendation, it will issue a report for consideration by the County Legislature. The Legislature will have final say over how much of a raise the elected officials receive, if any.


e-mail: stan@buffnews.com

[WNYresident]

The Legislature will have final say over how much of a raise the elected officials receive, if any.

THey have thier hand in the cookie jar too seeing the review board thinks they should get a 15% raise. Rememeber these people make $42,000 now plus perks. How can one vote where if they vote yes they get more money also. WHAT a scam. Would you vote no if you were in line for an increase also?

I guess they are the ones that vote yes or no. Would you vote no if it meant you no getting a raise?

[WNYresident]

Under this same salary structure, county legislators would be recommended to receive 35 percent of what the district attorney makes. That would increase their pay from $42,588 to $47,845, about a 12 percent increase.

Im' sorry it was 12% not 15%.

[tomac]

Originally posted by WNYresident
Rememeber these people make $42,000 now plus perks.

For a PART-TIME job. Any legislator that votes "yes" to this should be out of a job come their next election day.
These politicians knew the pay scale going in to get the job; if it wasn't enough for them they should not have wasted our time by running for office.
All this crap about raising the pay scale to attract the most competant people makes me sick. I would love to have a job that pays me $103, 450.00 + aforementioned perks. Maybe I'm not competant enough for the job, but so far, Joel hasn't shown me that he is either.

[therising]

Ok, Ok I'm the one who voted yes.

$103k is NOT a lot of money for the amount of responsibility that goes with the job. I'm not saying Yes to a 40% increase, but that was not the question.

I know I'll get slammed for this, but I really belive that elected officials, on the whole, are underpaid.

Maybe, if the salaries were higher, the jobs would attract more qualified people from the private sector.

[WNYresident]

Rising... We won't shun you from the group but...

$103,000 in Buffalo NY is a lot. Period. I do really well KNOW

[BeFuddled]

Maybe, if the salaries were higher, the jobs would attract more qualified people from the private sector.

I understand what you are trying to say Rising, the only hitch is that these "qualified people from the public sector" would have to get elected somehow and how is that going to happen with Boss Joel dangling the carrot stick in front of whomever he deems fit for a job?

Seems like the tables are turned against anyone who really IS qualified and competent for a public service career, good salary or not!