Cuba is a beautiful town. Cuba is a great place to live and
work! Cuba is also under immense fiscal stress due to several different
factors. Here are some of the worst:
1) the unexpected
imminent need for a new ambulance;
2) increase in
employee health insurance costs;
3) federal tax
exemptions granted to Seneca owned real property; and
4) replenishing
fund balance that was used to comply with unfunded state mandates and the 2%
tax cap law.
The Town Board recently completed a series of meetings to
hash out the 2019 budget and it’s not pretty. Town-wide taxes, which include
property in the Village and the Town, are going up about 12%. No one on the
Board is happy about this and it hurts to even think about it. Every year
between August and October we are forced to meet the beast (a/k/a the town
budget) in the Coliseum for this showdown. No one comes out unscathed and the
beast is never slain.
Town Councilmen and Supervisor salaries are one of the first
things we look at because most of the Board believes that we need to lead by
example. We are not politicians, no one is lobbying us and taking us out to
dinner to get local laws passed or special interest financing worked into the
town budget. We are you, working in and
around the community we love so that Cuba continues its reputation as a
beautiful community that people gravitate toward.
When I started on the board, each board member received a
salary of around $2,200.00. Now the
combined salary of all 4 board members is $1,800.00 annually. I’m ok with
that. I voted to reduce our salaries and
I am not in this position for personal financial enrichment. Personally, I declined to be part of the
state and local retirement in my capacity as a Board Member.
With each board member salary reduction, we also reduced the
Town Supervisor’s salary. The
Supervisor’s salary is $7500.00 per year. It was $10,000.00 in 2017. The
Supervisor also charges the taxpayers mileage for each trip made to the Town Hall
from home.
This year the Supervisor’s proposed budget included a 33%
raise for himself and a retroactive raise of 33% for 2018. These raises came along with accusations that
the rest of us on the Town Board cut the Supervisor’s pay through an illegal
process. No mention was made whether cutting our own pay was illegal.
According to the Supervisor, it’s the taxpayers that decide
if his pay is cut and that we should have passed a local law subject to a
referendum by you, the voters.
To be sure, these salary reductions were across the entire
Town Board because we want the taxpayers to know that we take no joy in telling
you taxes are going up. This is not about personalities. There is no one that is elected to these
positions that can ever really get paid “what they’re worth.” We do it because we care.
I don’t discount that the Supervisor puts in more time than
I do and that there is a lot of work that goes into the position. That’s why
the Supervisor’s salary is 1600% higher than a councilman’s salary.
So, I want to know, should we increase your taxes more to
give the Supervisor a 33% raise for 2018 and 2019? Did the Board screw this one up when we cut
the Town Board’s pay?
Please let your voices be heard. Come to our Budget Hearing
on Tuesday evening, November 13, 2018, in the basement of the Cuba Library.
Stop by the Town Hall. We want this
issue in front of you so that you can decide what is best for your town.
Cordially,
Joe Miller
Deputy Supervisor, Town of Cuba
