City Council divided on subject of City Manager Molino's salary increase

City Council may or may not be contractually obligated to give City Manager Jason Molino a 2.75-percent salary increase for the 2017-18 fiscal year, but, as far as Councilwoman Rose Mary Christian is concerned, the time for across-the-board raises must come to an end.

The subject of Molino's pay hike, which would lift his annual salary to $96,361, was presented to Council at Monday night's Conference meeting. After a few minutes of discussion, it was moved to the board's September business meeting when a vote is expected to take place.

Christian, who has spoken favorably of Molino's job performance on several occasions, said if a raise is warranted she would rather see a specific dollar amount not a percentage.

"I'm not in favor of a raise," she said afterward. "I started (as a council member) with (an) $8 million (budget) in 1992, we're up to $24 million now. It just boggles my mind."

Christian said Molino receives his salary and many perks as well.

"We give a three thousand dollar raise besides all your perks. It's just crazy, OK. We pay him for gas, we pay him for different events that he goes to, any college that he wants to attend as far as somethng to do with our city, any kind of NYCOM meanings, all of his family has health insurance.

"Goodness. There's so many families that can't even put food on the table, let alone everything else."

When asked for her thoughts going forward, she was quick to respond.

"I know what the solution is going to be coming up in 2018 -- nobody's going to get a raise. We're going to be at a standstill. It's going to stay right there, as far as I'm concerned. We've got to have some adjustments. Think about it, there were never any houses that defaulted on their taxes at one time. Now, we have three, four, five a year. And how many (more) are coming this year?"

While Councilman Paul Viele said he agreed with Christian's assessment, Councilman Robert Bialkowski said that Council needs to act consistently with terms of a contract that, he said, enables the City Manager to receive a raise in line with what other city management employees were given. 

Noting that Molino scored at least 4.5 out of 5 in various areas of his performance evaluation, Bialkowski said "it is up to us to be responsible and meet our obligations," adding that he doesn't go for "double-crossing on deals."

Council President Eugene Jankowski pointed out that the board is "taking steps to adjust some things in next year's contract ... looking at other ways of compensation."

"We are doing something; it's not falling on deaf ears," he said.

Councilwoman Kathleen Briggs said that positive evaluations don't necessarily result in pay raises, while Councilman John Canale noted that Molino's raise was included in the budget that was passed in the spring.

It was decided to postpone the vote on Molino's raise until September since Jankowski will not be in attendance at the August business meeting.