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A group tasked with evaluating the pay of elected county officials believe those officials aren't being paid nearly enough compared to similar sized counties. They believe county officials should get a large pay hike at the next election and consider another significant pay hike four years later.
That was the summary of Chautauqua County's Salary Review Commission. The commission is made up of members Steve Abdella, Frank "Jay" Gould, Vince Horrigan, Sharon Smead, Frank Beach, Dan Heitzenrater and Greg Krauza.
In March 2023, the county Legislature voted to form the Salary Review Commission to make recommendations for the pay for the county executive, county clerk, sheriff and county legislators. The salary of those four offices are under control of the county government. The salary for the district attorney and county judges are outside of their control.
The commission formed was bipartisan, with Abdella, Gould, Horrigan and Heitzenrater as registered Republicans and Beach, Krauza and Smead as registered Democrats. None of the members are presently an elected county official. Gould is a former county legislator and Horrigan is a former county executive.
The commission worked with county Human Resources Director Debbie Makowski. Legislature Chairman Pierre Chagnon, R-Ellery, attended the commission's meetings, but he was not a voting member.
Beach appeared at the legislature's Administrative Services Committee meeting this week to discuss their findings.
Beach said they based their recommendations on what other counties pay their elected officials. He said they tried to do their comparison with 13 similar-sized counties - Broome, Jefferson, Niagara, Ontario, Oswego, Putnam, Rensselaer, Schenectady, St. Lawrence, Steuben, Thompkins, Ulster and Wayne. Beach said four of the counties - Niagara, St. Lawrence, Steuben and Ulster - didn't respond to requests, so their data was not used.
COUNTY EXECUTIVE
Of the nine counties that did respond, Beach said only three of them had the same titles as Chautauqua County for the executive branch -- Broome, Putnam and Rensselaer.
Chautauqua County's executive pay is $111,420. They believe the county executive should be paid an additional $16,210, or $127,630 annually.
According to the commission, the average pay of the executive for the other three counties is $143,841. They would like to see a 50% increase in the pay gap. "The commission's recommendation is to apply 50% of the pay gap ($143,841-$111,420 to equal $32,421 at 50%) to the county executive's salary following the next election, to be effective Jan. 1, 2026," they wrote.
If approved, the county executive's salary would go up 14.5%.
COUNTY CLERK
The commission used all nine comparable counties for the clerk position.
Chautauqua County clerk's pay is $66,853. The commission would like to see it go up to $84,733 annually.
Commission members say that the average clerk pay of the nine counties is $102,614. They would like to see a 50% increase in the pay gap. "The commission's recommendation is to apply 50% of the pay gap ($102,614-$66,853 = $35,761 at 50%) to the county's clerk's salary following the next election, to be effective Jan. 1, 2026," they wrote.
If approved, the county clerk's salary would go up 26.7%.
COUNTY SHERIFF
The commission used all nine comparable counties for the position of sheriff.
Chautauqua County's sheriff is currently paid $100,476. The commission would like to see the pay go up to $110,831 annually.
Commission members say that the average sheriff pay of the nine counties is $121,187. They would like to see a 50% increase in the pay gap. "The commission's recommendation is to apply 50% of the pay gap ($121,187-$100,476 = $20,711 at 50%) to the county sheriff's salary following the next election to be effective Jan. 1, 2027," they wrote.
If approved, the county sheriff's pay would go up 10.3%.
COUNTY LEGISLATORS
The commission used all nine comparable counties for the position of sheriff.
Chautauqua County has 19 legislative districts. Each legislator's base pay is $9,000. The commission would like to see the base pay go up to $14,732.
Commission members say the average legislator pay of the nine counties is $20,465. "The commission's recommendation is to apply 50% of the pay gap ($20,465-$9,000 = $11,465 at 50%) to the county legislator's salary following the next election, to be effective Jan. 1, 2026.
In Chautauqua County, there is additional compensation for leadership and committee roles. The commission did not note any compensation provided by the other counties for leadership and committee roles, nor did it recommend changing any of the additional compensation amounts.
If approved, the legislative base pay would go up 63.7%.
The commission did note that Chautauqua County legislators are not entitled to health benefits, something that other counties do offer.
Chautauqua County used to offer health insurance, but that benefit was eliminated in 2010. The commission stated it is not recommending any change to benefits at this time.
The commission also recommended that the county legislator position should be included in the annual Consumer Price Increase as described in the Chautauqua County Charter. Members would like this change to also go into effect Jan. 1, 2026.
FUTURE SALARY REVIEW
According to the Salary Review Commission, the last time some of the elected officials' pay increased was in 2001. They did not specify which of the four offices go back that far and which ones didn't.
The commission also stated that the last Salary Review Commission was 10 years ago, which they felt was too long. "The commission believes that setting a Review Commission to meet every four years going forward will help alleviate the large pay disparity discovered during this process," they wrote.
Beach noted how in all four cases, the commission recommended increasing the pay gap by 50%.
He said if the commission meets again in four years, at that point they can try to eliminate the pay gap completely. "We felt that realistically, that if you try to go 100% (pay gap increase), it's just not going to fly. You guys have a responsibility to the constituents and that would be a little bit too big of a bite," he said.
REACTION
Legislator Bob Scudder, R-Fredonia, said he appreciated that the proposed increases are "data-driven" adding, "As we all know, this is probably going to be a field day for the media because 'how dare any elected official ever think that they should get a raise.'"
Legislator Susan Parker, D-Fredonia, questioned the comparable counties used, including Putnam County. "Their median home listing is $599,000 and our median home listing is $140,000," she said.
Makowski said when they picked comparable counties, they used variables like population size, number of legislators, and size of departments within each county.
Parker said poverty and income levels should be considered as well, noting that Putnam County's poverty rate is 6.3%, Rensselaer's poverty rate is 11.2%, while Chautauqua County's is 17.6%.
She also said by having another review in four years that the increases don't need to be as large now. "I'd like to see a compromise increase, not the 50% increase," she said.
Chagnon responded that the 50% increase was actually a compromise by the commission. "Not every commission member was happy with that because several of them felt that the increases should be to the average. They discussed and discussed and discussed, and finally came to agreement on the 50%," he said.
Scudder said he feels uncertain if he would support the CPI raises for legislators. "I would rather see just a set salary than this variable going forward," he said.
If the pay does go up for legislators, Parker said she would like to see a reduction in the number of county legislators.
No recommendations were made by the committee as to what's next. Beach said he will be presenting the committee's findings at the legislature meeting Wednesday.