ALDEN, NY - On September 29, 2009, voters in this eastern Erie County town narrowly passed a measure to reduce their five member town board to three; a Supervisor and two Town Council Members.
The changes approved by voters two years ago will formally go into effect on January 1, 2012.
However, Town Supervisor Ron Smith believes that with more work to be spread among the fewer remaining elected officials left to serve, they deserve more pay.
In his budget proposal for next year, Smith is calling for a 2%, or $460 raise for the Supervisor's job which would bring the annual salary to $23,460.
In addition, the budget proposal calls for raising the $11,000 salary for each of the two remaining Town Council Members by $1,500 to $12,500, a 13% increase.
Smith told WGRZ-TV he believes it is just compensation for an increased work load.
"By eliminating two town board positions we are eliminating $22,000 in annual salaries. What we're doing is giving $3,000 to those remaining council members. Each of the council members have a number of committees they're assigned to....and now they're going to have more meetings to attend. I don't think it's unreasonable to ask for a pay raise when you're doing 50% more work," Smith said.
"I don't think that's what any of the residents of Alden had in mind," remarked Kevin Gaughan, the smaller-government advocate who lead the effort to let residents vote on the downsizing issue back in 2009.
"I think any Alden public official who takes that step will get a reward and that is a ticket out of public service," Gaughan told 2 On Your Side.
Gaughan believes the way to share the increased work load is to have residents volunteer to take on some of the duties usually performed by elected leaders.
"I've been to over a dozen Alden board meetings in the past few years and there are citizens there willing to work, willing to participate on a volunteer basis, and that's the answer to spreading out the work. The answer is not for the politicians to raise their salaries," Gaughan said.
Smith disputes Gaughan's claims, saying he doesn't recall seeing Gaughan at any town board meeting since the months leading up to the downsizing vote in 2009.
In order to actually receive the raise he proposes, though, Smith would first have to win re-election in November. Smith, a republican, is not the party's designated candidate and has launched a write-in campaign to try and secure a victory.
The terms of the two town board members who would see a pay increase as part of the proposed town budget, however, don't expire until the end of 2013.
One of them, William Weber, told Channel 2 News he agrees with Smith on the issue of the pay hike, but that it doesn't necessarily mean he would accept one.
Town Council Member Mary Riddoch, as of early Thursday evening, had not yet returned a phone call to her home seeking her comments.
Click on the video player to watch our story from 2 On Your Side Reporter Dave McKinley and Photojournalist Andy DeSantis.
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WGRZ-TV, wgrz.com