Chautauqua County is trying really, really hard to spend your money.

During budget discussions, legislators approved 3% raises for county managers despite the fact that the county is still in the middle of a pandemic. State-related revenues are difficult to count on given the state’s several billion dollar budget deficit. The exact amount of that deficit fluctuates depending on the day and which state official you are talking to, but it’s anywhere from $7 billion to $15 billion.

Some school districts, including Jamestown, are looking at mid-year budget cuts to keep their budgets in balance. State-level employees are seeing pay freezes.

In Chautauqua County, managers got 3% pay raises as part of the 2021 budget. Some of those managers have reached the top of their salary ranges and can’t receive the full 3% raises. They’d have to settle for roughly 1.5% depending on where they are on their salary schedule. A local law discussed last week by the Administrative Services Committee, however, would amend the management salary raises to reflect an additional 1.5% so they can receive the full 3% raises included in the budget.

That all means that in a year in which a lot of people are out of work or not receiving raises because the pandemic ruined their business, Chautauqua County is bending over backwards — which means the county could have saved a little money.

What, exactly, is the purpose of a civil service salary schedule if the schedule isn’t followed? Managers took these jobs knowing there was a top dollar figure they could earn. No one twisted their arms to take these positions. Not only is this move unwise during a pandemic when there is general economic uncertainty regarding any government’s revenues, it is a bad move for the future. Increasing the salary ranges increases the upper salary range for every manager to hold that position in the future.

We now wonder what former County Executive Vince Horrigan thinks after he wrote a recent letter to this newspaper that noted “County is a model for good government” (Nov. 28). By the way, Mr. Horrigan, we didn’t propose wage increases to create public controversy or sell papers. We just report on the story and present it to our readers and let them decide on the topic.

Give credit to legislators Bob Scudder, R-Fredonia, and Lisa Vanstrom, R-West Ellicott for their opposition last week.

At least two legislators show some common sense. We hope the rest of the legislature follows their lead — but we’re frankly not optimistic because, as we said earlier, this group really, really likes to spend your money.