North Castle Officials Chastised for Department Head Salary Hikes
The North Castle Town Board last week approved 3 percent salary increases for all department heads for 2016, touching off an impromptu debate between the board and a few outspoken residents who criticized the move.
The salary hike follows a 2.5 percent increase for the same employees that was granted at the start of last year.
When quizzed by three skeptical residents at the Jan. 13 town board meeting, Supervisor Michael Schiliro said the town has saved money by hiring less experienced department heads with lower starting salaries. However, in order to attract and retain good people, their pay cannot remain stagnant.
“When we’ve had turnover in some of our department head positions, we’ve decreased starting salaries dramatically,” Schiliro said. “You’re not going to keep good employees if you keep them at their starting salary for six years. It’s not going to work.”
Schiliro said although the town’s department heads have received raises in consecutive years, they had gone five straight years, from 2009 through 2013, with no increase.
North White Plains resident Ed Lobermann was one of three residents who told officials last week that the 3 percent increase following last year’s raise was excessive because it is far above the Consumer Price Index (CPI).
He questioned whether town officials were trying to help some of its nonunion workers catch up because of years of flat salaries. Schiliro denied that was a factor.
“You can’t justify to me that if a salary was sufficient and was commensurate with his work and ability and experience on Jan. 1, 2015, he gets twice the cost of living or even more,” Lobermann said. “That doesn’t fly.”
Armonk resident Michael Fareri agreed that the salary increases were too high, considering that the aggregate cost of living over the past five years was about 7.7 percent. Therefore, the increase was about double the annual average of 1.54 percent.
“If you continue to keep that going that’s how the town is going to get itself in trouble because our salaries, our raises is greater than the CPI,” said Fareri who has criticized the town previously for excessive salaries for some of its employees.
Anthony Futia, a North White Plains resident who retired as the water and sewer superintendent, said the larger than needed salary increases is why the town should have an independent salary study completed. He said if officials won’t agree to a study, he’ll undertake the project.
But Councilman Stephen D’Angelo said that the criticisms of out-of-control employee salaries is off base. Even with the increases, a number of positions carry lower salaries than what was paid five years ago. The more recently hired department heads have fewer years of experiences, therefore, command lower pay.
For example, the town is paying current Assessor Victoria Sirota a $98,320 salary this year, compared to the $118,800 salary paid to her predecessor in 2011. Matt Trainor, the superintendent of recreation and parks, is currently receiving $95,000 while that position paid $109,000 in 2011.
D’Angelo said that Futia in his last year of work in 2011 was paid $119,300 and had current Director of Water and Sewer Operations Sal Misiti as an assistant. Misiti earns a comparable salary but has no assistant.
“You keep beating us up over these high salaries and we keep pointing out that we’re trying to keep the salaries as low as possible,” D’Angelo said. “We’re down lower than we were five years ago.”
Martin has more than 30 years experience covering local news in Westchester and Putnam counties, including a frequent focus on zoning and planning issues. He has been editor-in-chief of The Examiner since its inception in 2007. Read more from Martin’s editor-author bio here. Read Martin’s archived work here: https://www.theexaminernews.com/author/martin-wilbur2007/
