The Buffalo Common Council voted to write pay increases for city elected officials, including themselves, into local law Tuesday.
Back in June, the Common Council voted 5 to 3 to accept the recommended pay raises, which includes bumps to the paychecks of Common Council Members, as well as the mayor, comptroller and Board of Education members.
Tuesday’s Common Council meeting saw the council vote 6 to 2 to write those raises into law in the form of an amendment to the city’s charter.
The amendment comes after a Citizen’s Salary Review Commission recommended pay increases of 12.63% for Buffalo’s elected officials. However, Tuesday saw the council increase the pay to the Board of Education by almost $100,000 more than the commission’s recommended amount.
That was based on a recommendation by Buffalo Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Tonja Williams, who asked the council to bring Buffalo’s Board of Education members’ salaries in line with the likes of the Rochester School Board, with the money coming from the school district’s budget.
Council Members Christopher Scanlon and Joseph Golombek Jr. voted against the amendment.
In a call with WBFO, Golombek cited concerns about the speed with which the Citizen’s Salary Review Commission was formed as part of the reason for voting in the negative.
“I thought that this was too quick to be putting the salary commission together and recommending a pay raise for the council, especially when we are raising taxes, raising fees and expecting other people to tighten their belts,” Golombeck said.
In the meantime, the newly amended local law allows any elected official to "choose to refuse any increase in annual salary if, in his or her opinion, the fiscal times so warrant.”
That's something Golombeck says he is looking into.
"I’ve been looking at donating money to something that would be in my district. I would not want it to go back into the General Fund. I’d rather it go into looking after a part of the community that I represent.”
