In a survey of local townships, the Ellenville Journal has uncovered that the Wawarsing supervisor and town council members have earned the distinction of being the highest paid elected town officials in Ulster County. The study, which consisted of contacting every one of Ulster's twenty town governments, has revealed that Wawarsing's Town Supervisor salary ($49,564) and town councilperson salaries ($11,246) are significantly above the county average ($36,275.54 and $8,362.68, respectively) for Class 1 townships [see below].

The supervisor and council members also are eligible to receive health benefits through the town, which will cost as much as $15,105.36 in 2008 for a family policy, $11,300 of which will be picked up by town taxpayers making the total bill for Wawarsing taxpayers $151,048.

Click chart to see larger view Click chart to see larger view

Reaction

"I am surprised that it is that high. First of all, they get paid more than Ulster County legislators," said Ulster County District 1 Legislator Mary Sheeley. Sheeley says that her commitments to Ulster's county government includes representing all or part of Wawarsing, Rochester and Marbletown, at least five meetings a week, memberships in multiple committees and several subcommittees — all for $10,000 a year.

Sheeley has gone before the board in the past to challenge past salary increases with a limited degree of success. One witness to a town council meeting a few years ago said that she "shamed them" into not voting themselves an increase in the following new year's budget.

"I thought it was obscene at the time," says Sheeley.

In a thirteen-year period from 1987 to 2000, the town council authorized three salary increases for themselves. From 2001 to the recently adopted 2008 budget, the town council raised their salaries seven times, which resulted in a near fifty percent increase in their salaries over that period.

Sheeley took note of the fact that a significant number of these increases occurred during the last few years when many public officials and residents have lamented the loss of over 1,000 jobs in the Wawarsing area, most recently the closing of the Hydro aluminum plant this year.

"The reason I was opposed to earlier salary increases is that when things get tough you look to your elected officials not only to lead the way, but to tell you, 'Hey, we're all in this together.'"

Sheeley concluded saying, "This is not a job. This is a public service. You do it because you feel that you have something to offer to the community. If you aren't doing it for the money, why do you think you are entitled to a raise? You have to ask the question, 'Are you serving the community or are you serving yourself?'"

Mayor Jeff Kaplan gave his take on the revelation, saying, "It is my concern that we [as village residents] are subsidizing that salary and getting very little in return. The village does pay into those salaries and does seem to subsidize a number of other programs that the other town residents do not pay their fair share."

When contacted, former town supervisor Dr. Richard Craft said he was not aware of the increases in salary since he left office.

"When I left office in 2003 we took a survey of other town board salaries — some towns were higher and some were lower."

Town Classifications

A town is either a Class 1 or Class 2 town based on its population. In order for a town to be considered a Class 1 town, its population must be greater than 10,000 residents. Wawarsing is one of only five Class 1 townships (New Paltz, Saugerties, Shawangunk, Ulster) in Ulster County (six if, like us, you count the Town of Esopus, which is a Class 2 town that operates as a Class 1.)

A Class 1 town may have larger departments (i.e. Highway, etc.) within its organization as well as more employees, receivables, accounts payable, transfer stations, and water and sewer districts among others.

A Class 1 town is also required to meet more often (twice per month) than a Class 2 town (once per month). In addition, larger towns will often be charged with handling a variety of issues that do not concern smaller municipalities.

In the case of Wawarsing, the number of unique town council liaison responsibilities include the Napanoch Water and Sewer Districts, the Kerhonkson Water and Sewer Districts, the transfer station, the Joseph Resnick Airport and the Village of Ellenville. Wawarsing is one of three Ulster County towns to contain a village with New Paltz and Saugerties being the other two.

COMMENTS about this article (30)