Sullivan legislators likely to approve pay raises

Union backs salary ‘adjustments’

By FRITZ MAYER

MONTICELLO, NY — While there has been a notable backlash against proposed pay raises for two dozen non-union county employees, the objections don’t seem to have an impact on lawmakers’ plans to move forward with the hikes.

In a statement released on December 12, Sullivan County Manager Jonathan Rouis defended the proposed increases. He wrote, “During the 2008 budget process, the legislature requested a full evaluation of every position in county government, to ensure our union employees were working within the job classification and pay grade, and to institute job classification and pay grade steps for management/confidential employees, as well…. The management/confidential increases that have generated so much dialogue are only part of the equation, because for every increase for a non-union employee there must also be an increase for a union employee. While 38 management/confidential employees are set to be given increases in the 2009 tentative budget, more than 300 union employees will also receive adjustments to properly classify their job duties and adequately compensate them for their work.”

The plan had the full support of Lou Setren, business agent for the local Teamsters union. At a public hearing at the Government Center on December 11, Setren testified that he supported the pay plan and that union employees deserved the increases they were set to get.

But with some non-union employees getting hikes of more than $10,000 per year on salaries that ranged from $50,000 to $70,000 per year, Setren was alone among the handful of speakers in backing the legislature on the matter.

The others repeated sentiments that have been expressed by residents across the county in recent days, which goes something like this: The county employees no doubt work hard and deserve the raises; however, with the county and the nation in the grip of an historic recession, and with a property tax increase of seven percent being considered, this is the wrong time to move forward with a plan to correct previous pay scale discrepancies by handing out large salary increases.

Written comments recieved by the legislature through email reflected even stronger opposition to the raises. Of the 90 comments recieved, only the one from Setren showed support for the raises, while many expressed opposition and even outrage.

Rouis and others lawmakers, however, have indicated that they intend to adopt the tentative budget pretty much as planned, which includes the controversial raises.