Westchester Legislators Give Themselves Sizable Raise

WHITE PLAINS, NY — Come January 1, Westchester county legislators will be seeing more in their pay envelopes. On Monday, legislators approved 10-6 increasing their base pay from $49,200 to $75,000 — an increase of 52 percent.

Stipends for such things as being the chair, vice chair, majority and minority leaders, majority and minority whips and committee chairs were also increased.

According to the minutes of the meeting on the board's website, the "ayes" were Catherine Parker, Catherine Borgia, Kitley Covill, Margaret A Cunzio, Christopher Johnson, Michael Kaplowitz, MaryJane Shimsky, Alfreda Williams, Lyndon Williams and Benjamin Boykin. The "nays" were John G. Testa, Nancy Barr, Gordon A. Burrows, Terry A. Clements, Damon Maher and David J. Tubiolo. Virginia Perez was absent.

Legislator Damon Maher, D-New Rochelle, was one of those voting against the increase.

Among the reasons he voted the way he did was that the increase seemed "pretty high," he said in a phone call to Patch.

Maher also said it seemed like a cynical move to propose and pass a raise, the first in 15 years, after the November election.

He said, whether or not the raise was merited, the county should have used the long-dormant Compensation Advisory Board, which would have been comprised of a panel of citizens.

The advisory board would have examined workloads and salaries and then presented information to the Board of Legislators to consider.

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