CHENANGO COUNTY – In a vote favoring an ammendment to a local law that gives pay raises to certain county officers, the 23 elected officials that make up the Chenango County Board of Supervisors have turned down a raise for themselves.
A pay increase for the Board of Supervisors was originally included in a local law that went to vote during the Board’s monthly meeting held last Tuesday. In addition to a proposed pay increase for Board members, the local law – which ultimately passed unanimously with an amendment to remove the Board of Supervisors from consideration – gives pay increases for 12 other department heads, including the Commissioner of Social Services, Director of Public Works, County Sheriff, County Attorney, and Public Defender.
Although Board members made no objections to a pay increase for other county officers mentioned in the law, the proposed 2015 budget of $13,108 annual salary for each of the 23 town and city supervisors was met with refusal from some Board members who argued pay raises should be based on merit, not longevity.
“Are we doing the best job we can for Chenango County?” asked Smithville Supervisor Fred Heisler before voting on the amendment.
Heisler was one who opposed a pay raise for the Board of Supervisors in 2012, arguing at the time that there were too many newly elected supervisors to justify a pay increase.
“I have a slightly different perspective now,” Heisler said, mentioning that he has undertaken that go “above and beyond the involvement of the committee to represent the taxpayer.” He recommended each supervisor “do some soul searching” before voting on the amendment.
During discussion, Smyrna Supervisor Michael Khoury spoke in favor of the amendment, saying the overall progress of Chenango County may not warrant a pay raise for supervisors.
“It has to do with where we are as a county,” Khoury argued. “We’re not attracting businesses, we’re not attracting people; and without people, we’re left looking for ways of raising money. Is there really a sense of austerity?
Khoury added, “The big picture is that there is too much government in Chenango County and it’s squeezing out the private sector.”
“We are reducing the size of government,” said Oxford Supervisor Lawrence Wilcox, who also serves as the Chairman of the Board of Supervisors. “Within the 17 years I’ve been here, we are well in excess of 25 people who are no longer working for Chenango County that were ... I think the Board is constantly and diligently looking for ways to save the taxpayers money. I for one understand the only reason I’m here is to support the taxpayers of Chenango County.”
Despite opposition to a pay increase among a majority of Board members, Pharsalia Supervisor Dennis Brown called the ammendment a “knee-jerk reaction” to solving the root causes of the county’s economical issues. Preventing a raise will not fix the underlying problems, he said.
“If we’re going to say the small raise we would get is somehow going to change a lot of the problems for the people in the county, that’s not going to happen. Doing our job is ... We should be focusing on what our duties are,” said Brown. “Us getting a raise is not the problem. We should be putting our attention on something else, and a lot of it is asking what we can do to make the economy a better place.”
Brown added his belief that committees currently are working hard to put together a spending plan that adheres to the tax cap in the 2015 budget.
The amendment to remove the Board of Supervisors from the local law fixing annual salaries of certain county officers for the year 2015 passed the Board in a 16-7 vote.