Resident David Rinow appeared again at Monday evening’s Lancaster town board meeting questioning and commenting on elected officials stipends; their purpose, use and misuse.

The individual focused on the ‘stipend’ Highway Superintendent Amatura receives for his ‘oversight’ in the Parks / Recreation Department. The individual believes he is not deserving of that ‘stipend’ nor the stipend he receives as Drainage Coordinator.

His reasoning is that the Parks /Recreation Department doesn’t need two department heads. He considers parks crew chief Barbaro as a department head. It has been made clear recently that Barbaro is not a department head. Yet, Barbaro does control the budget operation and performs management operations. The same can be said of DCO Karn and until recently she was not considered a department head.

Mr. Rinow also declared Amatura performs no drainage work. His crew does all the work. If Amatura did not manage the crew and assign work orders, who would take on this responsibility? Is this operation part of his job description as Highway Superintendent?

Regardless, the words stipend, salary and compensation are often used interchangeably to denote renumeration for services provided:

Stipend
a fixed regular sum paid as a salary or allowance – compensation

Salary
fixed compensation paid regularly for services provided

Compensation
payment for services provided

Call it what you may, it is all compensation that is awarded for services provided. Mr. Rinow stated that some ‘stipends’ are awarded by law. The Town Clerk, by law has to also be the Records Management Officer and Registrar of Vital Statistics and is compensated as well for being the Clerk to the Zoning Board. Payment for services provided!

In the bargaining unit (union contracts) what should we call items like police shooting pay, briefing pay? Stipends, or perks. What about longevity pay?

Since when has stipend become such a dirty word – unless compensation is rendered without any legitimate service provided. What are the consequences of not paying Amatura for services provided outside his job description?