Update: 7 p.m. with legislators' insurance premium information
Time is money – and during 2022-23 budget talks, members of the Batavia City Council emphasized that it was about time for them to get more money for their public service.
The nine members of the lawmaking body voted healthy pay increases for themselves, effective April 1, noting that they hadn’t received a salary hike for about nine years.
The new salary for eight of the Council people is $5,000 – a jump of 43 percent from the $3,500 in the previous budget – while the new salary for City Council President Eugene Jankowski Jr. is $7,000 – also up 43 percent from his previous stipend of $4,900.
Section 3-4 of the City Charter stipulates that “Council Members shall receive compensation with the Council President receiving 40 percent above the rate for the other Council Members.”
The combined total of the increases is $14,100.
City Manager Rachael Tabelski, when asked about the impact on the budget, said, “Since the introduction of the budget, the proposed tax rate of $8.94 per $1,000 of taxable assessed value has not changed.”
Contacted by The Batavia, Jankowski and Council member Robert Bialkowski said the increases are justified when considering how long it has been since the last raise and the amount of time and effort put into running city government.
“There’s a lot of work involved in being on Council -- from keeping up with all of the business on the agenda and addressing the concerns of our residents, who have put their trust in us,” Jankowski said. “I know that in my case, I have many more obligations beyond the monthly meetings.”
Bialkowski said he takes the job “very seriously” and believes that the pay should be even more than it is when compared to the Town of Batavia and Genesee County Legislature.
“If you do the job correctly, there’s a lot of hours involved,” he said. “I am averaging 20 hours a week on City of Batavia business and put in 40 hours alone just on organizing the Memorial Day parade.”
Bialkowski also pointed out that Council members receive no additional reimbursement for their cell phones, mileage or office expenses, such as copying documents.
Jankowski said he understood that some people believe it should be voluntary, but stands firm to his belief that “if people do a good job, there should be some compensation.”
“Plus, the fact that it is getting harder and harder to find people to serve on boards and committees,” he said.
GENESEE COUNTY LEGISLATURE PAY
The nine members of the Genesee County Legislature received a 2 percent increase for 2022, said County Manager Matt Landers.
All of them will earn $14,225, except Legislature Chair Rochelle Stein, who is paid $19,890 in consideration of her additional responsibilities. Each one also receives full health insurance (their share of the premium is 15 percent) or can take a “buy-back” of $2,600 if not accepting the insurance.
Legislators are required to attend about a half-dozen regular and committee meetings per month, plus all of them are county liaisons to “special assignment” committees.
Those special assignments include the Office for the Aging, Ag & Farmland Protection Board, Audit, Board of Health, Community Services Board/Mental Health, Cooperative Extension, County Park. County Planning Board, E911, Fish & Wildlife Management, Genesee Community College, Holland Land Office, STOP-DWI, Youth Board and Water Resources Agency.
“The legislators spend a considerable amount of time outside of legislature meetings at these at these committee assignments, and then there's also volumes of information that they have to prepare and read and review before meetings,” Landers said. “Beyond that, they are very involved (in day-to-day matters). I poll legislators on a variety of different RFPs (request for proposals) that we send out and they are involved in the hiring process, in many cases.”
Landers mentioned several task forces that are meeting now, such as fire protection, the new county jail and broadband.
“They are putting in plenty of time. They’re definitely not getting rich with the hours they put in,” he added.
TOWN OF BATAVIA BOARD PAY
Pay for Town of Batavia government officials is at the following levels:
Supervisor -- $40,000, same as in 2021.
Deputy Supervisor -- $18,000, same as in 2021.
Three Council members -- $12,000, an increase of $2,000 from 2021.
