Fredonia Village Board OKs pay cut
MICHAEL RUKAVINAArticle Photos
Cutting time, cutting pay. These were two resolutions approved by the Fredonia Board of Trustees during Monday evening's regular meeting.
The proposal to reduce trustee salaries that was brought to the board by Trustee Susan Mackay, most recently in March, was put before a public hearing Monday and approved by a 4-1 vote.
Trustee Jacqueline Penfold-Williams, who did not support the resolution during the workshop discussions in which it was discussed, voted against the $500 reduction in trustees' salaries.
Following the regular meeting, Penfold-Williams said the board had a chance to make a true cut to save taxpayers money, and still can in the long run.
"We set aside an 11 percent in our capital reserve. The state-recommended amount is five percent. Our mayor asked us to give $1.33 back per thousand to each taxpayer and we didn't do that because we knew we had two buildings in disrepair and we were going to have to take out loans and that made sense at the time," she said referring to the trustees' adopted 2009-2010 budget. "But truthfully, if we wanted to give our taxpayers a break we could have done it right then. This is just posturing and in fact I have asked repeatedly to downsize the amount of trustees, and that would make a lot more sense; have the mayor be an active participant in voting and in our meetings. It just doesn't make sense that we have five trustees voting and our mayor doing nothing."
The adopted change to the local law will be reducing trustee salaries from $5,500 to $5,000, as well as reducing the mayor's salary from $13,000 to $12,000.
Mayor Michael Sullivan had no objections to the idea when it was first presented by Mackay, and he hopes this may be a turning point for the board to consider continued consolidation efforts.
"There is a trend in government for people to give back their salary in some way or reduce it to try and show a sign of wanting to make a difference on the cost of government. Personally, I feel this is really the first step and we really need to now change the size of the governments that we're operating here, or, the number of boards in existence," he said following the meeting. "A bigger action would be to have one board taking care of the village and the town, maybe two separate budgets, but whatever. Reducing the number of people that it takes to do that is where I want to see us go. And I'm hoping in the next few months, the coming year, we'll start to look at that seriously. It's nice to take a cut, but that doesn't change the problem with the number of elected officials we have with a shrinking population.
According to Sullivan, because the $3,500 was already budgeted for the current budget year it will remain in its designated account and if need be, be used in any future budget transfers.
"For example, let's say we have to transfer $1,000 into a certain fund, the money that will be here will sit in the account until it's needed and then pulled out to maybe purchase something in another department. If that doesn't happen and $1,000 is sitting in the account it becomes part of the fund balance," he said.
During the workshop, the board hashed out its plans for the next six months and approved the changes during the regular meeting. When last discussed, the board was short two members, but one of the meeting schedules that remained on the table at that time was approved unanimously.
The meeting schedule changes are as follows: During July and August the board will meet twice a month, with workshops beginning at 6 p.m. and regular meetings beginning at 7:30 p.m. on the second and fourth Monday of each month.
From September to December, the board agreed to meet three times a month, versus the four times they have been meeting. The board will hold a workshop beginning at 6 p.m. on the second, third and fourth Monday, and will follow with a regular meeting at 7:30 p.m. on the second and fourth Monday of each month.
The only change that was not approved was where the board will be meeting. During his campaign and since he's become a board member trustee Adam Brown has urged the board to consider moving the board workshop to a larger venue to allow for more residents to comfortably witness the discussions taking place. The board was in full agreement that a larger venue is needed, with the first location being the second floor where regular meetings take place. What needs to be worked out however is how the board will sit in the room.
Trustee Susan Mackay, since the discussions first began, has said that she would miss the genuine discussion that comes from the boards current sitting arrangement with trustees Adam Brown, Mackay and attorney Sam Drayo on one side of the table and trustees Tommy Brown, Joseph Cerrie and Jacqueline Penfold-Williams on the other, and mayor Sullivan and administrator Richard St. George on opposite ends.
Prior to the board moving upstairs to begin the regular meeting, Sullivan asked that each board member examine the second floor room and bring back ideas of how the seating arrangement could be made to, one, maintain some type of order to alleviate multiple discussions from occurring, and two, to arrange it in a way where trustees still feel like they can really talk to one another without feeling distant. The board will be looking to make final changes to the venue changes during a future meeting.
Comments on this article may be sent mrukavina@observertoday.com
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BogusBuster
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06-23-09 6:43 PM
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Are the salaries quoted in the artical monthy or annually?
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CharlesR
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06-23-09 2:07 PM
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I'm sure that there were people that voted against the pay cut. However, I'll bet that the person that had put years and years into a place doesn't want to lose their jobs, but they don't have a choice. I don't know why these people think they are any different than anybody else.
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David
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06-23-09 10:30 AM
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volunteer
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Captain
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06-23-09 9:55 AM
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After the public learned what Sully & crew are getting paid, the "North Gang" probably said: "Rut roh!" I didn't realize that Mayor Dick gets $1,200 a WEEK....WOW!!! I'm also wondering if Dunkirk still permits elected officials to "opt out" of insurance coverage, thus giving them additional income equaling the monetary value of what the health insurance policies cost per/yr?
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LitlDaddy1951@yahoo.com
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06-23-09 9:30 AM
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sounds like someone is a bit greedy..and now on to Dunkirk..time to cut the salaries there too.. talk about greed!
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PhilJulian
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06-23-09 9:08 AM
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Maybe we should be asking why the mayor of Dunkirk is paid $60,000 while the mayor of Fredonia with a similar population will only receive $12,000? Maybe we should be asking why a council person in Dunkirk is paid 50% more than a trustee in Fredonia. This may be a good time to compare the salaries of all Dunkirk employees with similar positions in Fredonia and ask the question "why does Dunkirk need to be so generous with salaries and benefits?
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Captain
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06-23-09 8:37 AM
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I tend to agree w/Ms. Penfold-Williams on her point regarding the mayor being excluded from voting on any issues unless there's a tie, and that requires 1 absent member when voting on an important issue. Like him or not, the mayor is the leader of village gov't, yet he can't establish any positive changes w/o majority support from the trustees. Yes, this is our standard legislative system throughout all levels of gov't, but let's face it, look at how dysfunctional ALL levels of gov't have become (i:e; DC, Albany, Chat Co, etc.). The "greater good" has taken a back seat to partisan politics for far too long. Maybe a change in the "old system" is what's needed to help reduce gov't dysfunction at all levels.
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commentor
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06-23-09 8:31 AM
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Looks like Penfold-Williams will be the next one voeted of the board. I agree that there is no need for a village and a town govt, however, I don't agree that the town should take over the village. One reason is the town board members receive medical benefits and I'm sure they don't want to give up the major reason for being there. The town does not deal with what the village deals with. The town is smaller than the village, The big item there are hidden adgendas with some town employees. I don't think the town is run well. There are a lot of things the public doesn't know...wasting taxpayers money!
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