Town supervisor seeks a 30 percent raise in pay

AMENIA — For the second year in a row, proposed salary raises for some of the town’s elected officials have incited public concern, indicating that payroll could play a major role in 2010 budget preparations, as well as on Election Day.

During last year’s budget season, town Supervisor and Chief Fiscal Officer Wayne Euvrard proposed nearly a 19.5-percent increase for his position, from $18,000 to $21,500. After coming under fire from numerous residents and Councilwoman Vicki Doyle, Euvrard adjusted that number to roughly 6.5 percent, from $18,000 to $19,200.

“This was certainly a learning experience for me,� Euvrard stated at the Nov. 20, 2008, Town Board meeting, after announcing the change. “I obviously made some mistakes. I listened to the comments, and I understand where people are coming from.�

This year looks to be shaping up under similar circumstances, however. Euvrard acknowledged after public comments at the meeting Thursday, Oct. 8, that he is asking for an annual salary of $25,000, a 30-percent raise effective 2010. Following a letter to the editor of this paper from resident, town videographer and town supervisor write-in candidate Gary Bonds in last week’s issue, residents criticized the move.

“I hope the board would go across the board for everyone at 3 percent,� former councilman Bill Carroll said. “We’re having bad times. You listened to people last year and I’m hoping you’ll listen to them this year.�

Carroll conceded that he did believe the supervisor’s salary should be raised, but suggested that it be raised in smaller increments over a five- to seven-year span. He also singled out the town clerk and the town assessor lines as proposing salary increases above 3 percent.

“I can’t believe it takes $61,000 to run the town clerk’s office,� he said. An examination of the most recent tentative budget, dated Oct. 2 and available at Town Hall, shows only $57,332 in the personnel services line, which is spread out among three employees and is only half a percent above the 3-percent raise Carroll suggested. The combined town clerk lines total $65,832, a little over a 1-percent raise ($827). The assessors’ personnel services line proposes almost a 7.5-percent increase, from $41,130 to $44,189, and a 5-percent overall increase from $74,330 to $78,014.

But even Carroll’s suggestion was too much for Tom Werner, who took an even more conservative stance than Carroll.

“My income has been frozen for the past two years,� he told the board, stating that “even a 3-percent raise [across the board] is exorbitant. Last year I thought you had excess wages.�

Euvrard called it an “inequity� that many people in Town Hall were making more money than the supervisor. He said he was having an independent study done comparing supervisors’ salaries in the area.

The budget is going to be “a board decision,� Euvrard said after the meeting in a phone interview. He repeated that he has always felt the town clerk line is “too expensive for that office,� and that the salary raises would probably be “pretty much 3 percent across the board.�

However, he defended his own proposed raise by saying, as he did the year before, that the position was nearly a full-time job with the hours he works and he felt the salary should fairly compensate that.

“The tentative budget is just everybody’s wish list,� he clarified. “And no matter what my salary is, there’s going to be a large tax increase. A few thousand dollars one way or another is not going to change anybody’s taxes.�

Town Clerk Maureen Bonds opted not to comment on the issue. Likewise, Assessor Ron Gazzoli offered a “no comment� on the issue.

The consequences of the proposed salary increase could also extend to the upcoming town elections, resident Myrnie Hoazl reminded the board. Write-in candidate Bonds, who lost to the Republican primary to Euvrard, said he will continue to contend the supervisor for the town’s top position.

The next Town Board meeting will be held tonight, Thursday, Oct. 15  at 7 p.m. at Town Hall. Budget workshops continued earlier this week, and an additional meeting is tentatively scheduled for 6 p.m., although it was unclear at press time whether it would be held.