UNIFY PIERMONT (unifypiermont@live.com)
Village Employees – Wages & Benefits
The Journal News recently published a list of the Top 50 highest paid employees in Orangetown. Unify Piermont learned that the same information was submitted to the paper for Piermont employees and thought that Piermont taxpayers would be interested. Unify Piermont also thought that it would be useful to know how many people are on the Village payroll so the Mayor can answer this question the next time he is asked.
The answer, Mr. Mayor, is thirty six (36). Nine in the Police Department (one of which is part-time), eight in the DPW (one of which was part-time last year), five on the Village Board, three in the Village Clerk’s Office, three in Planning, Zoning and Building, two in Village Justice (the Judge and Court Clerk), two attorneys, two in the Youth Commission or Recreation, one Fire Inspector and one Assessor/Consultant.
Not on the payroll, but also performing services for the Village are the Auditor ($18,000) and the Engineer ($55,000). Unify Piermont understands that the Village Attorney also receives payments from direct billings which are not included in the payroll system, but which are budgeted at an additional $47,000 annually.
The top ten highest paid employees in the Village for 2009 are, as expected:
Police Chief $156,557
Police Sergeant $135,304
The six full-time policeman $121,484 (average)
DPW Supervisor $103,931
Village Clerk $74,000(*)
(*) The tenth position would go to the Village Attorney if the extra billings from his law firm were included in payroll.
The total Village payroll for calendar 2009 was just under $2 million. Not included in this number are items variously described as employee benefits, retirement, hospitalization, eyeglasses, service awards, workman’s compensation, life insurance and dental insurance. All together these add just under $1.1 million to the budget or approximately 55% more in compensation costs.
This message was prepared by Unify Piermont which is dedicated to returning responsible, representative government to Piermont.
Unify Piermont is a group made up of village residents from all areas of the village, and from all political parties. We need to elect a local village government that will address the problems created by the current and previous administrations. A Village Board which communicates with its residents, providing useful information on a timely basis.
We need your help, your input and your involvement. If you share our concerns about Village taxes, Village debt and the lack of any meaningful communication from our Village Board; than e-mail us at unifypiermont@live.com with your name and address or leave a message at 845-613-7675. We will notify you when a new posting goes up on our website at http://www.unifypiermont.blogspot.com/.
