Thanks to the Madison Co. Supervisors, including Salka & Goldstein, who voted against a salary raise, recommended by County Chairman, John Becker (R- Sullivan), that would have resulted in minimum salaries of $20,000 for each supervisor. ..for "Part time" Jobs!...Becker and two supervisors, Russell Hammond (R-Georgetown) and Ron Bono (R- Madison), cast the only votes in favor of the plan . Supervisors currently receive:
1) $12,600 salary from the COUNTY;
2) separate salary from each of their respective Towns;
3) free health and dental insurance benefits;
4) NYS Retirement system benefits (NYS Tax Free);
5) After 10 yrs service, health & dental benefits for LIFE.
Jim Goldstein (D-Lebanon) put up a resolution asking that Supervisors also contribute 10% to the health plan . (Unfortunately, no one had the political courage to second that one. Likely to be mugged by their colleagues! ) The health benefits run between $5,000 and $12,000 per year, depending on individual vs. family coverage. Although Becker’s proposal would have dropped all the health benefits in favor of the $7,400 across the board raises, that would have only added to the more costly benefits under the NYS retirement system. Short term savings would have been a larger, long term cost to the taxpayer.
Check out the POST STANDARD and comments…taxpayers are not happy campers! http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2009/12/madison_county_lawmakers_rejec.html
