Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - Earlier this year, the Erie County Citizen Salary Review Commission came out with recommendations of significant raises for a number of different positions in county government. This included raises for positions like Erie County Sheriff, Erie County Comptroller, Erie County Clerk, and lawmakers in the Erie County Legislature.
Part of the final process to approve these recommended raises by the Citizen Salary Review Commission came on Thursday night with a public hearing to allow residents of the county the opportunity to speak on the results of the report.
However, the public hearing lasted just four minutes total in Legislature Chambers in Downtown Buffalo on Thursday, with the clerk reading one singular email to legislators in attendance.
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Erie County Legislator Howard Johnson (D) believes the general public understands the raises that were recommended, especially in today's society where the price of goods and services are going up.
"I think the general public understands what's happening here," said Johnson in an interview with WBEN after the brief meeting. "If they were going to comment, they would have showed up at this time, if there was something pressing for them. But a lot of them, half probably agree, half probably disagree, but they know what it is."
Meanwhile, Erie County Legislator Frank Todaro (R) was a bit surprised by the lack of residents that showed up to Thursday's public hearing. He's concerned that his constituents and other community members did not come to voice their thoughts on the raises, despite being open with their concerns in the past.
"When I'm out on the streets just talking to people, it's one of the main concerns that comes up. 'How are you voting on a pay raise?' I go, 'Zero. There's no need for it,'" said Todaro with WBEN following Thursday's meeting. "I already agreed from Day 1 that I would take this job, and do a great job with it. I already knew what I was going into, I knew the hours that were expected. I still run a full time business, I'm able to do this job, and it doesn't affect me. And we have full-time staff. We have a full-time staffer right on our side that is handling all that busy work, taking the calls. And then maybe once a day, we'll check in, sometimes twice, and we'll figure out that, 'OK, we have five emails to get back to people.'"
Both Johnson and Todaro feel the Citizens Salary Review Commission did a thorough job in their biannual obligation.
"They went around, they spoke with everybody, they spoke to us as a caucus. We had our own personal views on it, and they listened. And at the end, they came out with everyone should have a raise," Todaro said. "Some of those, I believe, really should happen with the comptroller, the sheriff, and we also have the DMV clerk. Those ones, we all agreed, yes, because you look at the time that has gone by and they really haven't gone up, and those are full-time positions. I mean, the Sheriff's 24/7. He takes calls at 2 in the morning, because that's what he got elected to do. But legislators, compare what we do and what they do, it's a complete different story."
One point Johnson brings up with the raises recommended for legislators by the commission is it wasn't the members of the legislature pressing for a raise.
"It was the commission, which is, by the charter, supposed to do this every two years. This is what the commission does. Every two years, the charter comes up, they enact the charter, and they do what they're supposed to do. They come, they interview both sides, and you go from there," Johnson said.
Johnson believes it was about that time for people in county government to earn a raise after years serving for the community.
"There's no place in the general public where you go to work, let's say you work for four or five years, and you don't get a raise on the job. And all though this is a public services, this is a job as well. We have a duty to perform. If not, you should be voted out," Johnson explained. "I think the process was fair, I think the commission did their due diligence, they did their homework, they did everything, they presented the facts to us. And I think that's what the public was seeing, the facts presented and saying, 'That was right on point.'"
Ever since the review process started with the Citizen Salary Review Commission this year, some within the community made their thoughts known that county lawmakers should not be seen getting raises. Johnson feels it's about time for Erie County lawmakers to start being paid like other counties across the state.
"I think as legislators, we deserve these raises," he said. "I represent the second-largest city in New York State. When you look at New York City, Buffalo is the second-largest city. We are the standard bearer when it comes to county government. When you look at the other surrounding counties, Erie County is the standard bearer, and most counties emulate what Erie County does. So we should be compensated for the work that we do."
Johnson adds he feels the raise for lawmakers to $65,000 is not enough to get rich off of, by any means.
"We're not talking about hundreds of thousands of dollars or $200,000. We're talking about going from $42,000 to $65,000, which is standard in the industry. It's not like we're asking for $100,000 a raise, so for anybody to object to a minimal raise, that's crazy."
As for Todaro, he feels lawmakers in county government are supposed to be helping the constituents as much as possible, rather than focusing on a potential pay raise.
"What do we do to reduce their property tax impact? We're imposing fees on parks - the minority caucus was against it - fees they want to put on the parks that you already pay for. The layers keep getting thicker, and I haven't seen any improvement," Todaro said. "I think if we were to get a report card, the minority caucus has done what we can. We just don't have the votes to achieve what our goals are, but yet, we're giving raises? That's a problem."
It is expected for the Erie County Legislature to formally vote on the commission's report next week Thursday.