The Erie County Legislature voted 6-5 Thursday to adopt raises for all elected county leaders, including themselves.
The raises recommended by a citizens’ panel are for county executive, sheriff, comptroller, county clerk and legislators. Six Democrats voted in favor and four Republicans and one Democrat voted against.
The raises for full-time elected positions range from $32,840 to $48,189. County legislators, who currently receive salaries of $42,588 and meet weekly, would receive raises of $22,412, the largest percentage increase of all elected county positions, but the smallest dollar increase.
The Citizens Salary Review Commission made raise recommendations in June, based on data collected from other counties, as well as other economic and wage data, and interviews with elected leaders.
The commission in March recommended the following raises, which would take effect after the next election for each position:
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- County executive: A $35,068 raise that would increase the salary from $139,932 to $175,000, a 25% increase.
- Sheriff: A $48,189 raise that would hike the salary from $101,811 to $150,000, by 47%.
- Comptroller: A $32,840 raise from $107,160 to $140,000, a 31% increase.
- County clerk: A $39,871 raise from $90,129 to $130,000, a 44% increase.
- County legislator: A $22,412 raise from $42,588 to $65,000, a 53% increase. The stipends for chairwoman, majority leader and minority leader are unchanged.
The Citizens Salary Review Commission is recommending raising the salaries for county executive, sheriff, comptroller, clerk and legislators.
Members of the citizen’s panel recommending the raises spoke with legislators Thursday about their reasons. The recommendations were not unanimous, but rather a reflection of a majority of commission members. Some members thought elected leaders should receive less or more than what was approved.
The raise recommendations for the county executive, comptroller and clerk received relatively little attention, given how these positions stack up against those of other major counties. But the pay increases recommended for legislators was subject to considerable debate.
Erie County legislators already receive the highest salary of any county legislators in upstate New York, and the fourth highest for legislators in the state. However, Erie County legislators have also gone the longest without receiving any raises. The last time they received a raise was in 1996. A majority of commission members agreed that a higher salary would encourage a greater diversity of people to apply for the position, and not just those who already have flexible schedules and outside jobs to support themselves. They also noted that legislators receive full-time benefits, even though many legislators would agree their roles are part-time positions.
The citizens panel tasked with reviewing the salaries of Erie County elected officials is recommending raises that would increase every official's salary by tens of thousands of dollars.
The Democrats had exactly enough legislators for a one-vote majority to adopt the measure.
“I think all jobs need strong job descriptions and competitive pay to be able to attract people to want to serve,” said Chairwoman April Baskin, D-Buffalo. “We did not just vote on legislators to receive a raise but other countywide officials as well.”
The legislators voting in favor of the increase included Baskin; Howard Johnson, D-Buffalo; Majority Leader Timothy Meyers, D-Cheektowaga; John Gilmour, D-Hamburg; Jeanne Vinal, D-Amherst; and John Bargnesi, D-Town of Tonawanda.
Legislators voting against were Minority Leader John Mills, R-Orchard Park; Lindsay Lorigo, R-West Seneca; Frank Todaro, R-Lancaster; Chris Greene, R-Clarence; and Michael Kooshoian, D-Town of Tonawanda.
Johnson said that given the stagnant pay of legislators for the past 28 years and the rise of inflation, a $22,412 raise is “a small, incremental increase. That’s just the price of doing business.”
Republicans said all legislators knew what the compensation was when they took the job and that, while inflation is hurting everyone, most people don’t have the ability to give themselves a raise.
“How can you all sit here and say I accept the pay raise in front of our constituents?” Todaro said. “I believe it’s just wrong.”
Johnson, who has spearheaded the push to adopt salary increases and holds no other outside employment, said he and some others don’t treat their position as part time and work much harder than legislators in other counties who meet less frequently and divide the work among more members. The current pay permits only those working legislators with flexible schedules or who own their own businesses to hold the office since the Legislature meets during the day every Thursday, he said.
He also pointed out that Buffalo Common Council members voted themselves a raise last year, raising their pay from $75,000 to $84,472.
Erie County Legislator John Bargnesi is proposing a local law that would double county legislator term lengths to four years and limit all Erie County elected officials to three terms in office.
Republican legislators, meanwhile, argued that their work is public service and part-time work, and undeserving of such a significant increase. Lorigo said county legislators were never meant to be career politicians whose sole income came from legislator work.
She said that if the issue is with legislators needing to take time off during the regular working day every Thursday, the Legislature should meet in the evening the way town and village boards do, so that legislative work doesn’t interfere with daytime jobs.
Kooshoian and Bargnesi were both less supportive of the proposed pay increases, but Bargnesi said he ultimately decided to vote in favor of the raises, with the expectation that his own proposal to set term limits for all elected county positions, and to lengthen legislator terms from two years to four years, will also get future, bipartisan support.
“I’m very confident that this will go through,” Bargnesi said. “I would be shocked if it doesn’t.”
Kooshoian, the sole Democrat to vote against proposed raises, said he felt uncomfortable accepting his raise, given that he was just elected into office and began serving in January.
He said he would forgo the raise if he could but doesn’t know if that’s possible.
In voting to support the pay increase, Johnson asked all the Republican legislators, who voted no, if they intended to decline their raises or donate the money if they are eligible to receive the raises.
Mills said that while it’s not legally possible for members to refuse the raises, he intends to allocate his raise toward nonprofit fundraising efforts, which is what he has done in the past with his majority and minority stipends. Other Republican legislators were non-committal, with Todaro saying he is already losing money in his current business by serving as a legislator.