There has been a meeting of this committee and a couple of the members of the committee have been asked to pull together some information for another meeting to be held during April. We're moving along.
Posted on: 12/19/07 Ross Marvin, Spotlight Staff email: marvinr@spotlightnews.com
The Rotterdam Town Board will hold a public hearing at 1 p.m. on New Year’s Day at town hall to discuss the adoption of a local law that would increase members’ salaries by $5,000 next year.
If passed, the law stipulates that board members will earn $15,000 in 2008, up from their current salary of $10,000.
“There hasn’t been an adjustment in 17 years,” said board member John Mertz, who noted that the raise would not apply to Supervisor Steven A. Tommasone, who earns $16,000 annually. “This is a period in Rotterdam history where the demands of the town board have increased, and while other positions have been adjusted accordingly over time, the board’s has not.”
According to Mertz, the new salary would be more competitive with what board members in similarly sized towns are currently making. Mertz cited Guilderland and Malta as two examples where board members earn salaries of $19,860 and $15,000, respectively.
Last month, the board voted 3-to-2 to amend the supervisor’s preliminary budget that did not include the raises. In order to amend board member salaries, the law stipulates that the town has to adopt a local law and hold a public hearing. If the law is not passed or overturned, the $20,000 budgeted for the raises for the four board members would remain unspent in 2008. The local law would be subject to a permissive referendum. This means the law could be overturned if the board was presented with a signed petition containing the names of 10 percent of residents who voted in the 2006 statewide election.
Tommasone and board member Robert Godlewski voted against amending the budget last month. Godlewski also cast the lone vote against the call for a public hearing.
“The law says that once salaries are set in the notice of public hearing for the preliminary budget that they cannot be adjusted,” said Godlewski. “And, it’s simply not the right time to raise the salary of the board in Rotterdam.”
According to Town Attorney Gerard Parisi though, the call for a public hearing is standard legal procedure after the preliminary budget has been set.
“Since the salary is set in the preliminary budget, it can only be changed through the passage of a local law,” said Parisi, referring to the provision of Rotterdam town law.
Both Godlewski and board member Diane Marco will leave the board at the end of the year. Marco, who served on the board for eight years, voted in favor of the raise.
Michael Della Villa and John Silva will take their places on the board in January, and the two new board members might be welcomed with a pay raise. Parisi said that the law could be passed at the close of the public hearing on New Year’s Day, though it wouldn’t take effect for 45 days.
The $20,000 budgeted for the increase would be provided through fines, forfeited bail, ticket fees and other revenue from the justice courts, said Mertz.
I apologize to everyone, but I needx to get back in contact with the people on this committee, as I got side-tracked and missed what happened at the last meeting. As soon as I have a chance, I will get caught up and let you know exactly what is going on. Things have been just a little crazy lately.
Without revealing details of what this committee may be accomplishing, is ANYTHING being accomplished toward the goal the committee was charged with?
I'm more curious than interested. Since formation, we've heard nothing else publically so I'm guessing any "results" won't surface until budget time when the raise is simply incorporated into overall budget review.
These studies take a real long time Michael as you know, oh wait the raise is for the town board so it should be expedited so they can get the raise at the end of the year.
Well I always said it shouldn't be a priority so I'm not necessarily disappointed but I was trying to gauge whether we had another failed committee...which would be par for the course.
Michael you know that the procedure to solve many problems so far has been form a committee and drag the issue out for a long time and sooner or later we'll forget the whole thing. Committees don't solve any problems because the board already knows what they want to do just as they did with the now defunct water board.
I'll be honest, I've done exactly what I was hoping not to. I have fallen out of contact with exactly what is going on with this, with the many things that have been going on in my life as of lately. I am going to do my best to get back on the ball within the next few weeks. I will try to touch base with some of the other committee members and find out what is going on, or if they have decided to throw the entire thing out the window. I do know that I missed one meeting that I assume happened. I don't know if there was another meeting after that or not, but like I said, I will do my best to find out what is going on and get back to you as soon as possible. Let's say that I try to find out something by the end of next week, that should give me enough time. 6/7/08.
What a waste of time this is. Look, they only have a few short months to wait for the new budget. Just implement raises into the new budget to be discussed at a public town board meeting.
Due to recent budget cuts and the rising cost of electricity, gas, and oil, The Light at the End of the Tunnel has been turned off. We apologize for the inconvenience.
I see that the June 25th Town Board agenda had a Discussion item for the 7 Member Citizen Budget Review Committee. (So it has a name apparently anyway.) I'm hoping to catch the replay Thurs or Sat on SACC-TV but any chance anyone was present and can enlighten me beforehand?
I didn't make it to the meeting. But I am hoping to watch it on tv saturday. I thought this was a dead issue.
Due to recent budget cuts and the rising cost of electricity, gas, and oil, The Light at the End of the Tunnel has been turned off. We apologize for the inconvenience.
Logged
