×

Membership growing for $100,000 club

OBSERVER Photo Dunkirk City Hall.

Let the number crunching begin. Chautauqua County Executive George Borrello kicked off the fall budget season by presenting his first proposal to the Legislature on Wednesday evening.

From this point, legislators will look at where they can begin chopping before they put forth a final plan to be voted on in November. As many readers know, a lot of that annual spending is tied to salaries and contractual agreements.

Those costs do not decrease. In fact, when we last looked at the six-figure club for total compensation in 2016, 673 employees in the public sector were members. As of this year, that number has risen to 833 — or by 24 percent.

This in a county where the median household income is $43,211, according to the U.S. Census, and a poverty rate of 19.2 percent.

Municipalities have a smaller number of employees compensated at $100,000 or more when compared to school districts. Of Chautauqua County government’s 1,287 workers, about 10 percent — or 126 — receive six-figure compensation. Dunkirk, the next largest entity in our region, has 161 workers with 60 compensated more than $100,000. With 37 percent of city workers receiving that amount in compensation, residents need to remember a recent statement by Dunkirk Councilman Don Williams. Earlier this month, in a report in the OBSERVER, Williams said he wanted even more employees hired for the Department of Public Works.

Why? So they can dig a deeper fiscal hole for the city?

That flawed request — with a potential price tag of at least another $250,000 — comes at a time when there is already a decreasing line of revenue for 2019. New York state’s transition aid to assist Dunkirk with the major reduction in a payment in lieu of taxes from NRG Energy Inc., which was once $4 million, will continue to decrease in the coming years.

In other words, those potential costs of new employees would be passed on to an already shrinking city tax base.

Other municipalities and the number of workers making $100,000 in salaries and benefits include:

¯ Brocton — two.

¯ Fredonia — 20.

¯ Gowanda — one.

¯ Hanover — two.

¯ Pomfret — one.

¯ Silver Creek — one.

¯ Westfield — seven.

Those entities alone total 220 employees. But the bigger bucks are in the school districts where personnel costs can take up anywhere from 60 percent to 75 percent of a school budget.

Within the last month, the Empire Center noted employees in districts across the state who earn six-figure salaries, without compensation costs figured in, nearly doubled across the state — from $32,914 to $58,635. “New Yorkers pay some of the highest property taxes in the nation, most of which go to pay for teacher and administrator salaries. It is critical for taxpayers to see exactly where that money goes, and thanks to SeeThroughNY, they can,” said Tim Hoefer, executive director of the Empire Center.

Here is the breakdown of $100,000 compensation employees in area districts:

¯ Brocton — 32.

¯ Cassadaga Valley — 59.

¯ Chautauqua Lake — 41.

¯ Dunkirk — 137.

¯ Forestville — 27.

¯ Fredonia — 108.

¯ Gowanda — 73.

¯ Pine Valley — 13.

¯ Ripley — eight.

¯ Silver Creek — 59.

¯ Westfield Academy and Central Schools — 56.

As payroll costs have increased, however, the number of public-sector employees has decreased, according to seethroughny.net, from 4,398 to 4,340. In addition, benefit packages are not as generous for many of the newer employees.

That’s a shift in the model for public-sector workers. In earlier years, excellent benefits came with a lower rate of pay. Now, as the numbers reflect, those at the top of the scales have the best of both worlds.

John D’Agostino is the OBSERVER publisher. Send comments to jdagostino@observertoday.com or call 366-3000, ext. 401.

Newsletter

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *
   

Starting at $4.62/week.

Subscribe Today