COUNTY LEGISLATURE
Committee shelves proposal for pay raises
By SANDRA TAN
News Staff Reporter
3/24/2004
County Executive Joel A. Giambra and other elected officials won't get giant raises anytime soon.
On Tuesday, the County Legislature's Finance and Management Committee killed recommendations by a blue-ribbon panel for retroactive raises of 35 percent to 45 percent to the county's top four elected officials.
"I think we wanted to send a clear message that everyone thought the size of the recommended raises was far too large, that we unanimously thought it was excessive, and no one was prepared to vote for any raises of that type at all," said Legislator Albert DeBenedetti, D-Buffalo, the committee chairman.
The committee voted, without discussion, to file the recommendation. Republican and Democratic members indicated the report from by the Citizens Salary Review Commission was "dead on arrival."
"This is going to go away," said Majority Leader Lynn M. Marinelli, D-Town of Tonawanda, a Finance Committee member. "We're not going to do it this way, and we're not going to go along with the recommendations that have been made on this matter."
Legislator Barry A. Weinstein, R-Amherst, another committee member, criticized the timing of the Salary Review Commission's activation - shortly after the 2003 elections - and pointed to the region's poor economic health overall.
"My personal feeling is, it's absurd," he said. "It's retroactive, which is inappropriate."
Legislators on both sides of the aisle have fielded a storm of angry calls in recent weeks from constituents who have described the raise recommendations as unjustified, in light of wage freezes facing county employees and the county's lingering budget problems.
County Comptroller Nancy A. Naples was quick to criticize the pay raise proposal, saying she would refuse to accept a raise that large.
In a recent interview, Giambra said he thought the commission's recommendations were high, even though he theoretically agreed that his position deserved to be the highest-paid in county government.
"I think given the timing, suggesting a raise that high is ill-conceived," he said.
But this does not mean that those elected officials will be happy with the Finance Committee's actions.
They and members of the Salary Review Commission pointed out that the county executive, sheriff, county clerk, county comptroller and legislators have received no pay increases for eight years.
The commission had recommended a $36,006 raise for the county executive that would have brought Giambra's annual paycheck to $139,434. It also recommended raises ranging from $33,723 to $35,244 for the county comptroller, sheriff and county clerk, plus $10,000 raises for the 15 county legislators.
Although the Finance Committee killed the commission recommendations, legislators said Tuesday that they probably will take up the pay raise issue this year and hold public hearings because some type of increase is warranted.
from the Buffalo News
Legislators on both sides of the aisle have fielded a storm of angry calls in recent weeks from constituents who have described the raise recommendations as unjustified, in light of wage freezes facing county employees and the county's lingering budget problems.
Well it looks like the County Executive and Legislators won't get the pay raise afterall.
At all, or just a lower amount of a raise?
How did they justify the pay raise for the woman that is the superintendant of the buffalo school system? Was that rather a high increase?
wnyresident,
from the News article:
On Tuesday, the County Legislature's Finance and Management Committee killed recommendations by a blue-ribbon panel for retroactive raises of 35 percent to 45 percent to the county's top four elected officials.
I don't know about the superintendant of the buffalo school system. This was just the county raise issue.
The commission had recommended a $36,006 raise for the county executive that would have brought Giambra's annual paycheck to $139,434. It also recommended raises ranging from $33,723 to $35,244 for the county comptroller, sheriff and county clerk, plus $10,000 raises for the 15 county legislators.
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