Ë®¹ûÅÉAV

The Legislature on Tuesday approved an amendment to the proposed local law that increases compensation for Legislature Chairperson Aileen McNabb-Coleman, D-Owasco, due to the extra work she has been forced to take on in that role this year.

The part-time position normally carries a $30,000 yearly salary, but under the new structure, the pay rate will retroactively be adjusted from June 1 through the end of the year so she will have earned a $47,500 yearly salary.

Under the original proposal that was first introduced in the Legislature last month, the higher pay rate for the final seven months of the year would have been based on a $65,000 annual salary. Some lawmakers felt the wording of that local law was misleading people into thinking that McNabb-Coleman was getting a $35,000 bonus, which was not the case.

Legislators Hans Pecher, C-Genoa; Andrew Dennison, R-Cato; Charles Ripley, R-Summerhill; Timothy Lattimore, R-Auburn; and Michael Didio, R-Auburn, voted against the measure. Legislators Paul Pinckney, R-Aurelius, who introduced the amendment, and Christopher Petrus, R-Brutus, joined their six Democratic and two independent colleagues in support of the increase.

"I personally think we need to invest in the management of this county," said independent Legislator Tricia Kerr, while also saying she understood the concerns expressed by the dozen public speakers who opposed the change during a public hearing earlier in the night. "It's a $140 million organization with over 700 employees."

Dennison, echoing many of the points made at the public hearing, said he couldn't agree to increasing an elected official's pay at a time when so many people are suffering from the economic damage of the coronavirus pandemic.

"What we should be thinking about is the public," he said. "The timing of this and the optics of this are real crappy."

Legislators brought the proposed pay increase to the table because of what the local law described as "fundamental changes in the nature of the work and time commitment of the Chair of the Legislature, increasing significantly the demands on the position beyond those previously considered or anticipated."

McNabb-Coleman has said a typical work week has been 50 to 60 hours, as she has worked without a county administrator in place to run day-to-day operations of county government and without the administrative support staff that an administrator has.

Earlier in the meeting, when providing her monthly update, McNabb-Coleman said she was launching a working group to begin addressing a long-term structure for administrative leadership in the county. The county government is currently set up to run under an appointed administrator, but that position has been vacant since the spring of 2019.

Several speakers at the public hearing said elected officials shouldn't be getting extra pay just because job demands increased, saying many workers in the private and public sectors have been in the same situation during the pandemic.

"The public perception is that constituents are suffering, and government benefits at our expense," said Throop resident Lydia Ruffini. "We don't know what you did for us, other than lock us down."

Several speakers criticized the county's handling of the pandemic, saying the restrictions put in place to prevent COVID-19 spread went too far and hurt local businesses. They suggested the county should have vocalized concerns about Gov. Andrew Cuomo's handling of the crisis, too, and that extra money in the county budget should go toward local small businesses instead of the chairperson's raise.

"The way I see it the scales are way out of balance and they need to be corrected," said village of Cayuga resident Devin Fricano, who organized a small protest outside the county office building ahead of Tuesday's meeting.

Workers in the county also have expressed concerns about a pay increase for McNabb-Coleman. "Many view this as another devastating blow to the morale of the workforce," said Cayuga County Civil Service Employees Association Vice President Bob Janus during the hearing.

Justin Leszczynski, president of the Cayuga County Sheriff's Office law enforcement union, issued a statement Tuesday night on the proposal that said in part his union members "support and recognize the extra work the chairperson has done in this time of the pandemic; however, a trait of being in public service is being selfless. We believe at this time the chairwoman should exhibit that quality! There are countless families across this county, along with employees of the county, who have had to take up extra work and duties; while I’m sure they would like to give themselves a raise, they are not in that position."

The local law approved Tuesday is subject to permissive referendum, which means voters could force the measure onto a public ballot. Residents have 45 days to collect 2,680 signatures asking that the measure be put before all county voters as a ballot proposition; otherwise, it officially goes into affect after those 45 days.