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Health & Fitness

A Whale of a Raise in Clarkstown – Town Clerk

Let me first state that this is about the decision of the Town Council, not about Mr. Justin Sweet, the current Town Clerk. On the numerous occasions when I have interacted with Mr. Sweet I have found him to be responsible, professional, and gracious. But let me now turn to the decision made by the Town Council.

The Raise

At the meeting of Town Council this past Thursday the members approved 2% raises across the board for elected officials and an entirely new salary for the Town Clerk, who will be assuming the responsibilities of the former Receiver of Taxes. The original salary for Town Clerk was $72,828. If he had received the 2% increase the salary would have been $74,285. The Town Council set the salary for the position with new responsibilities at $121,830, a 64% increase beyond the 2%.

When asked about the size of the increase, Mr. Gromack replied that the new duties would require the Town Clerk to spend more hours beyond his original full-time work, perhaps as much as 50 hours a week. So I did the math. If the Town Clerk was originally working full time (35 hours in Clarkstown) and now averaged 50 hours a week, that would represent a 43% increase in work hours.

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So perhaps we voters should ask about what math the Town Council was performing to think that a 64% increase was appropriate.

The Election

We know that no one ran against Mr. Sweet for his position of Town Clerk, paid $72,828. So I asked the Town Council whether the information about the lucrative salary increase had been published before the date for candidates to file ballot petitions. My thought is that there might have been a bit more competition for a job paying $121,830. Mr. Gromack claimed that it was not known what the salary would be. It is possible that the specific figure was not known, but the planning for the consolidation began in 2011. Some idea of the range of the proposed salary must have been considered earlier that just days before the election. I am not sure that it is appropriate to hold an election for a lowly paid position and then greatly increase the salary of the winner after the time had passed to mount any serious challenge. It may have been an oversight, but it is most regrettable and definitely poor governance.

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In Light of the Budget

In light of the tight budget in the Town, I think that the salary increase for the Office of Town Clerk is exorbitant in a year when the Town is already breaking the Tax Cap. The Town Council has one more chance to reconsider the salary for the Town Clerk when they vote on the Salary Schedule for 2014. I would urge them to scale back the increase to an amount more in accord with their estimate of the increased workload in the office.

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