Trending
Republicans in Chautauqua County may have made a decision that we will all regret -- perhaps not tomorrow, but at some point down the road -- by agreeing to mandatory yearly cost-of-living raises for the salary ranges for county managers at the top and bottom of the salary scale.
It's the sort of decision a county can make when it has a fat pile of cash in its savings account. And it's the sort of decision that can come back to bite you when that pile of cash isn't quite as plush.
In 2013, Chautauqua County’s unappropriated fund balance was $12,600,000. Do you know what you didn’t hear much about back in 2013? Mandatory cost-of-living adjustments for anyone involved in county government. In fact, at that point the topic of conversation was cutting county spending to protect the fund balance because there was legitimate worry amongst Republicans that the county could exhaust its surplus if spending was continued at 2013 levels. That was the entire point of selling the Chautauqua County Home and pushing so hard for an increase in the county's sales tax.
Times have changed since then. It’s a sign of growing financial stability over the course of 13 years that the surplus has grown to the point that County Executive PJ Wendel can propose using $11 million from the surplus to balance the budget for a year without anyone batting an eye. That wouldn’t have been the reaction if former County Executive Greg Edwards had proposed using $11 million of the county’s $13.5 million surplus back in 2008, or former County Executive Vince Horrigan had proposed using $11 million of the county’s $12.6 million surplus in 2013.
The county wasn't always in a place financially where it could make a move like the one Wendel is proposing. It's not outside the realm of possibility that another year of heavy fund balance use depletes the county's surplus to the point that day-to-day spending once again becomes a concern. And that is why we are concerned with Republicans' approval recently of annual adjustment of the top and bottom salary ranges for county managers based upon the consumer price index, because lawmakers didn't leave themselves any sort of escape hatch if financial times take a turn for the worse.
Take, for example, New York state's minimum wage increase that is tied to the consumer price index. The wage freezes if certain conditions are met, so in 2027, there is currently not scheduled to be a minimum wage increase because of the loss of private sector jobs in New York -- particularly in private education and hospitality. We would have preferred Wendel and Republicans in the Chautauqua County Legislature had taken such an approach. That would have protected county taxpayers from footing the bill for increased management salaries that taxpayers might not be able to afford in the future. In our view, manager raises could have been tied to both inflation and the county's fund balance or level of tax increase in a given year's budget.
Next month, legislators will be asked for another local law change that makes managers eligible for union retirement benefits. Lawmakers should think twice before signing taxpayers up for even higher legacy costs that are not required by a contract. This is a spending decision that the legislature has total and complete control over -- it's not mandated by a contract and it's certainly not mandated by New York state.
We've seen a lot of private industry job losses this year as cost pressures caught up to them, yet county government too often acts as if it is immune to those same financial struggles that have hit companies like Bush Industries. That's what happens when you're not relying on orders to keep a business afloat. Unlike companies, government isn't going out of business because in government, there's always the taxpayer to turn to when costs get out of whack. It doesn't matter if costs are higher because of inflation or because the county is handing out raises and benefits -- the taxpayer is the ultimate backstop of those bills. In our view, raises for managers should be merit based on performance criteria rather than yearly cost of living increases. Many of these managers aren't pushing 50 to 60 hours a week. If so, let's see the proof that they are and take that into consideration in an annual review. Nothing should be automatic when it comes to county financial matters.
This change wasn't supported by tax-and-spend Democrats, it was supported by the following tax-and-spend Republicans: Bob Scudder, Fredonia; Jason Merritt, Sheridan; Thomas Harmon, Silver Creek; Johnathan Penhollow, Stockton; Pierre Chagnon, Ellery; Dan Pavlock, Ellington; Lisa Vanstrom, West Ellicott; Dalton Anthony, Frewsburg; Travis Heiser, Clymer; Marty Proctor, Mina; and Fred Johnson, Westfield.
If this is the type of conservative financial management that Republicans are supporting, it's time voters support new members in the legislature.