The Delaware County Board of Supervisors voted 17-1 during a Nov. 10 board meeting to approve Local Laws No. 3 through 14, which will increase the salaries of several department heads and pay them a one-time $10,000 bonus using federal pandemic relief funds.
Three Delaware County residents spoke against the local laws during a public hearing at the meeting. Delhi resident Manly Schults spoke against the salary increases and the bonus. He said he thought the pay gap between the department heads and their employees was widening too much and the bonuses could have gone to help “mom and pop stores,” farmers and the poor.
“I urge you to vote no on the resolution,” he said. “The county needs the money. It could go to mental health, DOT, Office for the Aging.”
Gay Merrill of Hamden also said she thought the money should be spent to help the poor or those with mental health or drug dependencies.
“There were four overdoses in the last week,” she said. “There are businesses going down. Ten thousand dollars could help the medically underserved population.”
Dottie Howe of Walton also said the $10,000 could help people with mental health conditions and help build a foundation to help those less fortunate.
Board Chair and Bovina Supervisor Tina Molé said after the first vote on Local Law No. 3, which raised Director of Emergency Services Stephen Hood’s salary to $67,040 and gave him a $10,000 bonus, that the Middletown Town Board passed a resolution opposing the laws. Middletown Town Supervisor Carl Patrick Davis was the lone dissenting vote on each local law.
The $10,000 bonus was given to every full-time department head for their work during the COVID-19 pandemic and paid for by funds from the American Rescue Plan Act funds, Molé said. She said the pandemic is still a concern in the county and there have been “more deaths in the last three weeks than there was in 2020. The department heads are still working long hours.”
She said some department heads made less money than some of the employees in their departments due to overtime.
The meeting was held both in-person and on the Zoom videoconferencing platform to allow community members and Hamden Town Supervisor Wayne Marshfield to attend the meeting. There were technical problems throughout the meeting. Marshfield said last week the county’s technology network will be upgraded and network switches, security points as well as the phone system will be replaced at a cost of $2.6 million over a five-year period.
The board passed a resolution to dole out the mortgage tax to the towns and villages. The towns and villages received the following: Andes $22,434.26; Bovina $22,837.13; Colchester $35,368.01; Davenport $39,587.02; Delhi town $43,932.03; Delhi village $7,662.86; Deposit town $8,701.16; Deposit village $615.50; Franklin town, $31,382.12; Franklin village $1,476.12; Hamden $18,743.58; Harpersfield $15,987.27; the portion of Stamford village within Harpersfield $1,924.02; Kortright $25,041.30; Masonville $11,965.90; Meredith $15,339.31; Middletown $75,540.81; Fleischmanns village $2,213.74; Margaretville village $5,197.41; Roxbury $36,620.68; Sidney town $34,516.62; Sidney village $13,169.02; Stamford town $15,687.82; the portion of Stamford village within the town of Stamford $1,941.74; Hobart village $2,526.74; Tompkins $9,236.08; Walton town $27,601.54; Walton village $5,959.98.
The board approved a resolution 17-1 with Meredith Town Supervisor James Ellis opposed, to amend the New York State Environmental Conservation law extending the muzzleloader season to allow counties to opt out of the Holiday Week of Dec. 26 through Jan. 1. The move would allow the snowmobile riding season to start that week.
During the meeting, Director of Veteran Services Agency Charles Piper introduced Jason Davis, veterans outreach program specialist at the Binghamton Vet Center. Davis, an Iraq War veteran, talked about his personal struggles after returning from combat in 2003.
“I was going through a rough time and thought about taking my life,” Davis said. “I spoke to a counselor at a vets center and learned about PTSD.”
Davis said he started working at the Binghamton Vet Center in 2011 and wants Delaware County veterans to be aware of the center. He said the center offers community support and also gets veterans interested in hobbies such as fly fishing and crochet.
“All services are free to veterans,” Davis said. He said any veteran is eligible to visit the center, they do not have to be part of the VA healthcare system.
Vicky Klukkert, staff writer, can be reached at vklukkert@thedailystar.com or 607-441-7221. Follow her @DS_VickyK on Twitter.
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