It certainly was a quick meeting. It was over about 7:40 pm. When I first drove up, there wasn't a parking place to be had. I thought it was going to be a packed house because of the vote for the proposed raise. Actually, the majority of the people there were the parents and young girls who went to the cheerleading nationals. They came in 7th in the nation. CONGRATULATIONS!! So they were handed awards and deservingly so.
But when that was done, they all left and I think Kevin counted 20 people remaining. Maybe 20! I personally thought the raise issue was important and yet there was a very slim turn out. Actually with all of the things going on in town, I would have thought there would be a larger turn out with more active participation.
What will it take to motivate the masses to become involved?
ROTTERDAM Town Board says no to pay increase BY JUSTIN MASON Gazette Reporter
Members of the Town Board stalemated on their own raises Wednesday, effectively ending a move to include in the budget a pay increase of $5,000 for the four positions. With Michael Della Villa absent from the meeting, John Silva and Supervisor Steve Tommasone voted against raising the salaries, which would have been 50 percent more than the $10,000 now paid to board members. In voting against the measure, Silva said he didn’t disapprove of the increase, rather that it was done outside the regular budget process. Silva also urged the board to consider reviewing the role of the town’s part-time elected officials and their duties relative to similar sized municipalities. With Rotterdam approaching a population of 30,000, he suggested it may be time to start a discussion about seeking a full-time administrator. “At this time my vote will be no because I think there’s a better way to do this,” he said of the raises. Tommasone also read a statement from Della Villa opposing the raises. Della Villa, away on business, indicated he did not support the move because of the way the issue arose and citizen concerns over town spending. “While I understand Rotterdam [Town Board] members are among the lowest paid in the state, I cannot support a 50 percent increase at this time,” he said in his statement. In November, town officials voted 3-2 to amend the 2008 budget to give each board position a $5,000 per year raise. The pay raises did not affect the supervisor position, which pays $16,000 a year. Town Attorney Gerard Parisi later advised the board it would need to adopt a local law before legally approving raises for themselves. Because the initial budget didn’t include the raises, he said the only way to grant them later was to pass a local law subject to a permissive referendum. In speaking against the raises, resident Kevin March suggested the board take up the issue of raises during the regular budget process. By doing so, he said, residents wouldn’t get an impression of underhandedness. “Where as this is something that was slid in after the fact,” he said. But proponents of the measure — councilmen John Mertz and Joseph Signore — disagreed with this characterization. Both said the board followed the same process it had for raising the salaries of other elected officials in the past. Signore said the issue of raises was brought up at a time when the town had a tax decrease and a $3 million surplus. He said the proposed raises would have helped attract a better pool of candidates to the office. “It’s good for both Democrats and Republicans alike, as they seek town board candidates for the future,” he said.
I think this was the right decision/vote. The raise should be incorporated into next years budget. I didn't agree with the process.
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
The low attendance just goes to show how little the residents really care about certain issues. If there was a Walmart going to be built somewhere in town you would see the number of people increase. I was happy to see channel 6 there. I got the impression that Mr. Silva wants a full time supervisor/mayor to be implemented in Rotterdam due to it's 30,000 person population. I would rather see a full time engineer or engineer aide hired one who would represent the interests of the town and not having to rely on the word of some developers engineer.
The low attendance just goes to show how little the residents really care about certain issues. If there was a Walmart going to be built somewhere in town you would see the number of people increase. I was happy to see channel 6 there. I got the impression that Mr. Silva wants a full time supervisor/mayor to be implemented in Rotterdam due to it's 30,000 person population. I would rather see a full time engineer or engineer aide hired one who would represent the interests of the town and not having to rely on the word of some developers engineer.
Certain issues? More like ANY issues!
A few people (myself included) worked very hard to mobilize people against Wal-Mart. I'd disagree a proposal in itself would get a significant number of people off their couch - they needed more prodding the last time.
I'm out of the business of trying to get people to pay attention.
I can't help myself...I've got to reiterate a few items regarding this whole affair.
I think we all agree the process on this was flawed from a budgetary point of view.
I also agree that $5000 x 4 is incrementally a small percentage of monies budgetarily. We could argue all day what's appropriate compensation for the work they do - let's not.
All that said, I think it's worth exploring some of the arguments floating around in support of an increase because personally, I still don't agree with the logic.
First, Mr. Mertz is quoted in the article that they used the same process in the past to bump salaries. It's not valid logic. Either he's wrong or it's been done inappropriately in the past. Certainly it's no justification.
Second, Mr. Signore is quoted in the article as saying something like it's good for Republicans and Democrats alike in order to attract candidates. Uh...how about what's good for the residents? I don't recall there ever being a shortage of candidates en toto, forget about the individual parties as this issue hasn't aligned along party lines since the start.
Third, it's sounding like both Mr. Della Villa and Mr. Silva are aligning to eventually pass an increase, as long as it's done within the budget. That's fine, I guess...if you can justify an increase is warranted. It's not in my mind. I heard Mr. Silva pontificate before he cast his vote last night so I'll stick with his comments for now ( I don't recall the specifics of Mr. Della Villa's letter or I'd explore that too.)
Mr. Silva seemed to take exception with my belief it was inappropriate for the newcomers to give themselves a raise as first order of business. Nice. Someone please tell me where else on the planet does someone get hired for a job and day one receives a 50% pay increase? It's ludicrous and his excuse it was previous administration initiative is equally lame.
Here's the whole crux and likely my last comments on the matter. The argument that an increased salary will somehow enhance the pool of qualified candidates is flawed. Here's why. Everyone seems to keep saying what a small sum the additional monies are but that somehow that will attract "magic" candidates. The position and the desire to serve attracts people or it doesn't. Simple. An increased salary will potentially attract people looking to make it a career...on the back of the taxpayer no less. (There's already a plethora of overpaid government elected positions...want more money?...go seek one of those.)
Don't believe me? Mr. Silva while explaining the rationale of how more will attract better said while he was running for office and going door-to-door, he didn't even KNOW there was a salary for the position. He was seeking office to make a difference.
And those are the people who will continue to run for office, regardless of what the salary is. Don't kid yourself otherwise. I will oppose a salary increase when it inevitably comes up again even though I expect it will probably get passed.
Michael from my understanding the Town Board wasn't doing things the right way in the past and no one called them on it. I think the town attorney wanted the board to follow the proper procedure so that there wouldn't be any way for the residents to object to the raise.
The low attendance just goes to show how little the residents really care about certain issues. If there was a Walmart going to be built somewhere in town you would see the number of people increase. I was happy to see channel 6 there. I got the impression that Mr. Silva wants a full time supervisor/mayor to be implemented in Rotterdam due to it's 30,000 person population. I would rather see a full time engineer or engineer aide hired one who would represent the interests of the town and not having to rely on the word of some developers engineer.
I must agree with your analogy. First, and although I agree in part with Mr. Silva, who seems to be not in favor of a $5,000 increase at this time and yet is anticipating a larger sum of money for the supervisors position in the future. So I walked away with the idea that Mr. Silva won't mind an increase to the taxpayers. He just wants it implemented differently. My opinion was that he was implying re-structure.
I heard that after the raise was voted down, the Supervisor had a difficult time getting Counselmembers Signore and Mertz to move any resolutions because they were pouting. Any truth to that? If so, that is too bad. They all need to be working for the betterment of the taxpayers- not just their own agendas.
I also brought up to Mr Mertz that I was disappointed with how fast the town board was addressing the water problems in the town and all he said was he could only do so much about them. I got the impression that he wanted to do more to correct them but was being impeded by someone.
I heard that after the raise was voted down, the Supervisor had a difficult time getting Counselmembers Signore and Mertz to move any resolutions because they were pouting. Any truth to that? If so, that is too bad. They all need to be working for the betterment of the taxpayers- not just their own agendas.
I heard that any resolutions that needed to get voted on did. And in a timely maner. They didn't call it pouting....they just called it not being happy with the raise decision which some said appeared to cause a bit of tension between the ranks. But hey...that's politics for ya! Of course there will be a replay Sat at 1pm on channel 16 if anyone wants to see for themselves.
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
I will bet that next year the raises for the Town Board will be included in the budget and the next time the issue of their raise comes up for a vote it will pass with flying colors.
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