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A public hearing is set for the county Legislature's Aug. 25 meeting to get input on a proposal to set the annual pay for the leadership post at $65,000, up from the current level of $30,000. Legislator Aileen McNabb-Coleman, D-Owasco, has been serving in that role since the beginning of the year.

"The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have resulted in 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," states the proposed local law, which was introduced last month. "The legislature recognizes that, while the County cannot increase the pay of the Chair of the Legislature to be consistent with the new and extensive responsibilities of the position, the body wishes to acknowledge those changes in a tangible way, during the crisis."

The pay increase would be retroactive to June 1, according to the proposal, which was included with a July resolution approved by the Legislature to set the public hearing on the matter. Based on seven months at the higher salary and five months at the current salary, McNabb-Coleman would end up earning about $50,400 in 2020 if the pay increase is approved.

In an interview this week, McNabb-Coleman said she's been approached by some of her colleagues on the Legislature multiple times about the pay increase since she started on the job, including one time prior to the COVID-19 pandemic emerging in Cayuga County. She declined those earlier offers to put the matter up for a vote, based in part on her belief that the extra workload she had been picking up would eventually taper off.

That has not happened, she said. McNabb-Coleman said a typical work week this summer has been 50 to 60 hours, and it was much higher during the spring, when the outbreak in New York state was at its peak.

"It did just get to the point of becoming entirely much more than I ever imagined," she said of the chairperson's position, which is classified as a part-time role.

McNabb-Coleman has also been working at a time when the county has not had an administrator employed. The Legislature has not filled the day-to-day county government leadership post since firing J. Justin Woods in the spring of 2019.

The local law, introduced by county Legislature Ways and Means Committee Chairperson Chris Petrus, states the pay increase would be "made as a response to the COVID-19 crisis and is not intended to be permanent nor precedent setting." The 2020 county budget included funds for the administrator position, so the Legislature would use that money to pay for the chairperson salary increase.

When the Legislature approved setting the public hearing on the matter at its July meeting, Legislator Hans Pecher, C-Genoa, was the only no vote. In an interview this week, Pecher said his vote has nothing to do with McNabb-Coleman's performance; he said she's done a good job. His concern is with spending additional taxpayer money.

"I suggested that all legislators cut their own salary and donate it to an increase in pay for the chairperson," he said. "I would be willing to donate mine."

Pecher also is worried that a pay increase for the chairperson could affect morale of county employees negatively.

"There are other people who are doing a lot of extra work, too," he said.

One of the county government employee unions, the county unit of the Civil Service Employee Association, posted information about the public hearing to its Facebook page last week. Several comments on that page expressed displeasure with the idea of giving McNabb-Coleman a mid-year raise.

But the union's president, David Lipiska, told Ë®¹ûÅÉAV this week that he does not have a problem with the proposal.

"Aileen is totally entitled to that," he said. "Aileen has worked her tail off."

Lipiska said that rank-and-file employees who have picked up additional responsibilities do get compensated for the extra work, in part through overtime and compensatory pay. He said workers who pick up duties outside their job title also get their pay adjusted.

The Legislature could vote on the pay increase at its Aug. 25 meeting after the public hearing. If the proposal is approved, it would be subject to permissive referendum, which means voters could have a say.

"The local law wouldn't be effective until after 45 days from the date of its passage by the legislature," county attorney Christopher Palermo wrote in an email. "If a petition is filed that contains the signatures of at least 10% of the votes cast for governor in the last gubernatorial election, then the question becomes a ballot proposition and the law isn't effective unless and until it passes by a majority of the voters in the county."

In Cayuga County, that means such a petition would require about 2,680 valid signatures of qualified county voters in order to force a ballot proposition.

Regardless of how the proposal turns out, McNabb-Coleman said, she is grateful for the recognition from the legislators who have suggested the pay increase.

"I am honored and thrilled to do this every day," she said. "If for some reason my colleagues vote against it, that's not doing to change what I do."