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Chautauqua County lawmakers will be considering a handful of local laws that will increase the pay for elected county leaders.
The agenda for the county legislature's Administrative Services has been released. Among the topics under discussion are four local laws. They will establish the salary level for the following offices: county executive, county clerk, county sheriff and county legislators.
The Administrative Services Committee will be meeting on Tuesday. Unlike resolutions, local laws are not required to be voted on by a home committee for the full legislature to vote on them. The next full legislature meeting is set for Feb. 28.
The county's Salary Review Commission announced their recommendations for salary hikes at the legislature's January meeting.
After they shared their recommendations, the county legislature's Democratic Caucus sent an email stating that while they were thankful of the work of the Salary Commission, they were not in favor of increasing the salary of elected county officials.
"We appreciate the good, hard, work of the salary commission. At this time, we do not fully support their recommendations. We believe that additional considerations must be made for the median household and individual incomes, the cost of housing, number of people living in poverty, and the number of legislators in our county. We have to consider what our taxpayers can afford. We must take into consideration what our taxpayers pay year after year, after year. We are public servants and while everyone's time is valuable, our pay needs to be in line with the wages of our every day working residents," they wrote, on behalf of Legislators Susan Parker of Fredonia, Marcus Buchanan and Bob Bankoski of Dunkirk, and Tom Nelson and Fred Larson of Jamestown.
Because there are 14 Republican legislators, the Republican caucus can pass any or all of the raises without the support of Democrats.
On Thursday, Legislator David Wilfong, R-Jamestown, who serves as the majority leader, said Republicans may alter the Salary Commission's proposals.
"The commission's task was to look into elected officials' pay scales and make recommendations on them. I believe we need to take a look at all the proposed recommendations and make some common sense adjustments to them," he said.
Wilfong insists they will review the proposals carefully and they all may not agree.
"The Republican caucus is made up of business owners, bankers, retirees and factory workers which represent a large group of blue-collar workers that reflect a cross section of our county. I can assure you that this issue will bring forth a lively conversation in our caucus. Just because we all belong to one political party does not mean that we all agree on the complex issues before us," he said.
PROPOSED RAISES
The proposed raises, if approved during the Feb. 28 meeting, would not go into effect until the next election for each office.
In 2018, the county executive's salary was set at $92,500. The proposed local law would increase the salary by $16,210, effective Jan. 1, 2026.
In 2019, the county sheriff's salary was set at $85,000. The proposed local law would increase the salary by $10,355, effective Jan. 1, 2027.
In 2018, the county clerk's salary was set at $55,500. The proposed local law would increase the salary by $17,880, effective Jan. 1, 2026.
In 2001, each county legislator's base salary was set at $9,000. The proposed local law would increase the salary to $14,732, effective Jan. 1, 2026.
Select legislators with additional responsibilities do receive additional compensation. The chairman of the legislature gets an additional $8,000, the minority and majority leaders get an additional $1,000, the assistant minority and majority leaders get an additional $500, each committee chairman gets an additional $1,000, and each ranking committee member gets an additional $250. There are no changes proposed to any of those positions.
FUTURE RAISES
Whether these raises are approved as is, modified or rejected, there's another proposal to examine elected officials' pay again on a regular basis.
The county legislature will vote on a separate local law which would require a Salary Review Commission to be assembled no later than April 1, 2027 and at least every four years thereafter, to review the pay rates of elected officials. Like the current group, the commission would be required to be seven members and bi-partisan.
Wilfong said he likes the idea of reviewing salaries more often than they have in the past. "We need to look into a mechanism that will keep wages in line and provide small annual increases to our elected officials and prevent the situation that we find ourselves in now. The legislators have not had a pay increase in over 20 years. It will be interesting to see how these issues play out," he said.
He also wants to hear from the public. "I encourage all Chautauqua County residents to reach out to their county legislator to express their opinions on these proposed changes to county government," he said.