Legislators Paul Heider (R-LD-16), left, and Beau Harbin (D-LD-2). (Photos provided by Cortland County).
Salaries for Cortland County legislators are set to go up a high percentage next year.
Legislators approved the 20% raise, bringing their salary from $10,000 a year to $12,000, via a 10-4 vote at Thursday’s County Legislature session.
The measure was opposed by two Cortland County residents during the public comment section of the meeting.
“Who can give themselves a raise? No one,” said Richard Henry, a county resident. “This should have been put up for a public vote, but I know why (it wasn’t) and you do too. It would not have passed. Shame on you. Everyone got the same 20% and had nothing to do with seniority or participation and different committees.”
While the $2,000 raise is a flat bump, legislators in positions of leadership have different salaries. For instance, the majority and minority leaders will make a yearly salary of $12,500 after the raise takes effect next year. The chair of the Legislature is currently paid $19,000 and will see their salary bumped to $21,000 starting in 2024. Legislator salaries had remained the same since 2015, when it was raised from $6,000.
Legislator Kelly Preston (LD-10) supported the measure, noting she will not be seeing the additional raise as her term is set to expire at the end of the year. She echoed a point made by several legislators who supported the raise during committee discussions, arguing that legislators do more than attend the monthly Legislature meeting.
“I do not believe that $12,000 a year for legislative pay is unreasonable,” she said. “There are many committees, subcommittees and meetings which I and many other legislators attend monthly. We don't just come here for this monthly session. We do not have the health insurance option. I’ve been here for six years and I’ve never received a raise.”
Legislative Minority Leader Beau Harbin (D-LD-2), who voted against the measure, said he supported pay bumps to legislators, but noted the legislature has overlooked the proper way to increase salaries.
“What is really frustrating is we’ve spent a good bit of time focused on staff salaries, as we absolutely have to and need to, but we never have addressed the issues here that tie our hands when it comes to legislative compensation,” Harbin said.
Harbin argued there is a local law from 1971 that needs to be addressed in order to adjust legislator salaries accordingly with factors such as cost of living. Until legislators fix the law that Harbin referenced is one of the reasons he voted no on Thursday.
“We could have spent some time in the last four years kind of cleaning up this mess, so that we could make small cost of living adjustments, like many other counties,” Harbin said. “But we didn’t address the crux of the problem. We didn't actually do the work for ourselves.”
Legislator Paul Heider (R-LD-16) and legislature chair Kevin Fitch (R-LD-8) said they had not heard the local law from 1971 be brought up in committee.
“If folks want to vote no, that’s great,” Heider said. “If those folks don't think they want the $2,000 raise, can they say ‘I give it up?’ So I suggest if they don't think they're deserving of it, and the voting no that, if they really mean it, they say ‘I don't want the $2000 I'll work for the $10,000.’”
Harbin responded and said he doesn’t take travel-related reimbursements allowed to legislators who go to meetings outside their district.
“I don't take that money that is entitled to me, based on the rules that have been established here, because, frankly, it’s part of the service that I provide as a public servant,” he said.
Legislators approve raise for county management employees
The legislature unanimously approved to raise salaries for management employees by 4%, as well as implement other changes to the management compensation plan at its session on Thursday.
The new changes to the “step” system the county has set up for employees would shorten the number of years it takes for a management employee to reach step four, the best-compensated step in the system. Under the potential new changes, employees would reach grade four after an eight-year tenure, as opposed to the current 10-year tenure required.
Further coverage on county staff salaries can be found here. A full review of the proposed changes can be found here, starting on page 16.
“This management confidential section of our group is the last group. This policy is going to cover 106 of our current employees,” Harbin said Thursday. “With 534 active employees, this actually accounts for almost 20% of those who work for the county. It is time that we're addressing their salary inequities that we've known about for a number of years.”
