raises for legislators
09-22-2006, 11:30 AM
Live! tickets Long IslandLI pols tried to hide funds for raises
BY MICHAEL ROTHFELD
Newsday Staff Writer
September 21, 2006, 11:46 PM EDT
Nassau County lawmakers hid more than $300,000 for their own salary increases in the 2007 budget proposal unveiled last week, Newsday has learned.
The allocation, which stood to increase most of the 19 members' pay from $39,500 to $55,900, was quietly tucked into the spending category of "legislative assistants" in the budget document.
When first asked about the funding increase, Presiding Officer Judy Jacobs, who leads the Democrats, denied that it was intended specifically for the legislators.
Thursday -- after Jacobs acknowledged the money's true purpose -- Jacobs and Republican Minority Leader Peter Schmitt accused each other of lying about whether they had a deal to give the lawmakers their first raises in more than a decade.
"Do I think the legislators deserve a raise? One hundred percent, absolutely," said Schmitt (R-Massapequa). "But do I have a deal with Judy Jacobs to do it? No, I do not."
Then Jacobs, of Woodbury, retorted that she was removing the money from the budget.
"If that's the way he feels, then it will not be done," Jacobs said. "We had a deal. The deal is now off."
According to several sources, the Democrats at first planned to allocate $164,000 in a budget line clearly identifying the money as a salary increase for their 10 lawmakers.
But once they learned that the Republicans had placed the corresponding $148,000 for their nine legislators within a larger budget line called "legislative assistants," the Democrats did the same thing.
"I thought I would put it against each of the legislators' salaries, then the Republicans decide, no, no, they're not going to have it out there to be truthful," Jacobs said.
Each legislator would have received another $16,400 a year, boosting the salaries of rank-and-file members by 42 percent. The same raises would have gone to legislative leaders: the presiding officer, who makes $67,500; her deputy, who earns $62,500; and the minority leader, who receives $63,500 a year.
Nassau County Executive Thomas Suozzi said he supports raises for the legislators, but not through subterfuge.
"If the county legislators believe they deserve raises, then they should come out publicly and make the case for them," Suozzi said in a statement. "Placing money for their own raises under a budget item intended to pay the salaries of legislative staff is inappropriate."
The lawmakers, who conducted no business for six weeks early this year because of a leadership stalemate, openly budgeted raises for their staff as well.
Nassau legislators have not raised their salaries since the body was formed in 1996. Along with other elected county officials, they complain that their salaries lag behind those of their counterparts in Suffolk. But they have been unable to muster the votes for raises, including a proposal to double legislators' pay in 2004. Legis. David Mejias (D-North Massapequa) opposed the raise two years ago and said he was kept in the dark this time by fellow Democrats.
"Thankfully I found out about it," said Mejias, who is running for Congress. "I would kill it if I had the chance."
The county charter requires a vote on legislators' raises to take place before Oct. 1 in any year, with the increases taking effect after their next elections. They do not face re-election until November of next year, but legislators have contemplated changing the charter to approve raises earlier. Jacobs said the planned increases were in line with what municipal workers have received over the last decade.
She said she thought it would have been "more honest" to show the raises for legislators in the budget, but she wasn't going to do it if the Republicans would not. As written, the Democratic and Republican budgets appear to keep a legislator's salary the same, while raising the average salary for a legislative assistant from $56,900 to $85,900.
Last Friday Jacobs said some of the money budgeted for assistants might be given to the lawmakers, but she denied it was intended for them.
"We can't say definitively it's for raises for legislators," Jacobs said then. "So we obviously have other people ... who are not legislators. We have senior staff, we have [legislative assistants], we have expenses."
Republicans also said the money was just for an overall increase in expenses. But both parties had already budgeted other expenses and staff raises of about 5 percent elsewhere.
In the end, Jacobs called Schmitt the driving force behind the move for raises.
"Peter Schmitt, more so even than me, is pushing me and pushing me about raises," she said.
Told of those comments, Schmitt said, "I would like some of what she's smoking."
Staff writer Celeste Hadrick contributed to this story.
BY MICHAEL ROTHFELD
Newsday Staff Writer
September 21, 2006, 11:46 PM EDT
Nassau County lawmakers hid more than $300,000 for their own salary increases in the 2007 budget proposal unveiled last week, Newsday has learned.
The allocation, which stood to increase most of the 19 members' pay from $39,500 to $55,900, was quietly tucked into the spending category of "legislative assistants" in the budget document.
When first asked about the funding increase, Presiding Officer Judy Jacobs, who leads the Democrats, denied that it was intended specifically for the legislators.
Thursday -- after Jacobs acknowledged the money's true purpose -- Jacobs and Republican Minority Leader Peter Schmitt accused each other of lying about whether they had a deal to give the lawmakers their first raises in more than a decade.
"Do I think the legislators deserve a raise? One hundred percent, absolutely," said Schmitt (R-Massapequa). "But do I have a deal with Judy Jacobs to do it? No, I do not."
Then Jacobs, of Woodbury, retorted that she was removing the money from the budget.
"If that's the way he feels, then it will not be done," Jacobs said. "We had a deal. The deal is now off."
According to several sources, the Democrats at first planned to allocate $164,000 in a budget line clearly identifying the money as a salary increase for their 10 lawmakers.
But once they learned that the Republicans had placed the corresponding $148,000 for their nine legislators within a larger budget line called "legislative assistants," the Democrats did the same thing.
"I thought I would put it against each of the legislators' salaries, then the Republicans decide, no, no, they're not going to have it out there to be truthful," Jacobs said.
Each legislator would have received another $16,400 a year, boosting the salaries of rank-and-file members by 42 percent. The same raises would have gone to legislative leaders: the presiding officer, who makes $67,500; her deputy, who earns $62,500; and the minority leader, who receives $63,500 a year.
Nassau County Executive Thomas Suozzi said he supports raises for the legislators, but not through subterfuge.
"If the county legislators believe they deserve raises, then they should come out publicly and make the case for them," Suozzi said in a statement. "Placing money for their own raises under a budget item intended to pay the salaries of legislative staff is inappropriate."
The lawmakers, who conducted no business for six weeks early this year because of a leadership stalemate, openly budgeted raises for their staff as well.
Nassau legislators have not raised their salaries since the body was formed in 1996. Along with other elected county officials, they complain that their salaries lag behind those of their counterparts in Suffolk. But they have been unable to muster the votes for raises, including a proposal to double legislators' pay in 2004. Legis. David Mejias (D-North Massapequa) opposed the raise two years ago and said he was kept in the dark this time by fellow Democrats.
"Thankfully I found out about it," said Mejias, who is running for Congress. "I would kill it if I had the chance."
The county charter requires a vote on legislators' raises to take place before Oct. 1 in any year, with the increases taking effect after their next elections. They do not face re-election until November of next year, but legislators have contemplated changing the charter to approve raises earlier. Jacobs said the planned increases were in line with what municipal workers have received over the last decade.
She said she thought it would have been "more honest" to show the raises for legislators in the budget, but she wasn't going to do it if the Republicans would not. As written, the Democratic and Republican budgets appear to keep a legislator's salary the same, while raising the average salary for a legislative assistant from $56,900 to $85,900.
Last Friday Jacobs said some of the money budgeted for assistants might be given to the lawmakers, but she denied it was intended for them.
"We can't say definitively it's for raises for legislators," Jacobs said then. "So we obviously have other people ... who are not legislators. We have senior staff, we have [legislative assistants], we have expenses."
Republicans also said the money was just for an overall increase in expenses. But both parties had already budgeted other expenses and staff raises of about 5 percent elsewhere.
In the end, Jacobs called Schmitt the driving force behind the move for raises.
"Peter Schmitt, more so even than me, is pushing me and pushing me about raises," she said.
Told of those comments, Schmitt said, "I would like some of what she's smoking."
Staff writer Celeste Hadrick contributed to this story.