County Board Gives

Final OK To Raises

By JENNIFER HILL • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com

COOPERSTOWN – The Otsego County Board of Representatives made it official today.

With only one dissenting vote from Andrew Stammel, D-Oneonta,  the representatives voted a half-million dollars worth of raises for department heads and managers – including $3,000 for themselves, their first raise since the $250 in 2008.

M&C county employees’ titles and current salaries range widely, from Deputy Director of Community Services earning a stipend of $3,000 to the District Attorney having an annual salary of almost $200K. Personnel Director Penny Gentile said she could not give exact percentages of the raises because they were “varying figures” and a list of them had not yet been drawn up.

Before voting for the resolution, County representatives shared concerns over raising salaries mid-term and would have preferred to see it in the next term.

“I have constituents who struggle to make ends meet and won’t be receiving raises this year,” said Danny Lapin, D-Oneonta. “At the same time, we need to be able to attract and retain high-quality employees, so we have to pay competitive wages.”

In the discussion, Rep. Peter Oberacker, R-Schenevus, noted, “Our employees haven’t had a raise in 10 years.”

Representatives also passed a resolution requiring County representatives to pay 10 percent toward their health insurance premiums, which doubled the percentage they contributed previously.