Board members shoot down Dunleavy’s proposal to give elected officials annual cost of living raises

Councilman John Dunleavy’s proposal to provide an annual cost of living increase for all elected officials died on the vine last night when he could not get the support of the four other town board members to set a public hearing on the idea.

But some members of the public, including the president and past president of the Riverhead Civil Service Employees Association unit, gave the measure an impromptu — albeit unofficial — public hearing anyway last night. And it was resoundingly panned.

Angela DeVito, who said she thought the salary paid to the town board is “fair for a part-time job,” suggested elected officials have a salary schedule that includes “steps” like the union contracts, so that newly elected officials will be paid an “entry-level salary” while those who have been in office for a period of time will be paid more for the same post.

Dunleavy agreed with that idea and said he “tried to do that six years ago but it could not be implemented.”

CSEA president Terri Davis reminded the board that the union has been working out of contract for a year.

She said a town board member’s salary is really not $48,000, it’s more than $50,000 when an annual deferred compensation payment is added. She also noted that elected officials are provided with payment of 100 percent of their health insurance premium, even after they retire.

Laurie Downs of Riverhead, who said her husband worked for the town for 32 years, said she was “appalled” by the move to have an automatic cost of living increase for elected officials when the town has not settled the union’s contract.

Working for the town “didn’t make us rich and it shouldn’t make you rich, either,” Downs said. “You ran for this position knowing what the salary was.
“You take care of your employees, you take care of your residents, then you take care of yourselves.”

Downs also complained that the town board’s decision to pierce the tax cap this year means Riverhead residents will not get a tax rebate from the state.

Under the state’s “tax freeze” program, tax payers would have received rebate checks this year equal to the increases in county, town and school taxes. But eligibility for the rebate depended on all taxing jurisdictions complying with the tax levy cap. The town pierced the cap, so Riverhead tax payers won’t be getting any rebate checks from the state.