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WELLSVILLE -- Wellsville Village Council members held varying opinions regarding pay increases for mayor and council members during a special meeting held Monday to pass legislation before year end.
Council members considered three pieces of legislation during the meeting, including establishing rates for burial lots and other fees at Spring Hill Cemetery, which passed on third and final reading with an all-in-favor vote, and two ordinances to establish the salary for council members and the mayor, which were placed on second reading with opposition.
The ordinance to increase the salary of council members from $200 to $300 a month was opposed by council members Bill Taft and Karen Dash.
Taft said he is opposed because the reason he was given was to make council seats more attractive, but council seemed in a hurry to give raises to people who were just elected and that wasn't lining up with the explanation given to him. He said he was wondering if there was some other justification for the increase.
Councilmember Ryan Burgess noted that when he brought the increase up it was to make the council seats more attractive to other village residents both young and old. He also noted that after investigating other villages of equal sizes, a number of the villages offered a higher salary and some even included a yearly 3 percent cost of living increase built into their ordinances for their mayor and council members. This would bring the salaries up to around the same as villages the same size as Wellsville.
Burgess noted he thought the increase in salary would also be an incentive for council members to attend special meetings and events.
Dash disagreed with Burgess, saying that it is a privilege to serve the village and that she isn't in it for the money. She also said she didn't think it is going to help get anyone else on the ballot or encourage them to attend extra meetings, so she was opposing it.
Councilmember Keith Thorn said that the council has not had a raise since the late 1980s and other people who work for the village have had raises, vehicles bought for them and other incentives.
"This is a small amount," Thorn said. "This isn't like you are giving somebody $20,000 or $5,000 or even $3,000, it is a small amount to try to get other people involved and make it look a little more attractive."
The ordinance to raise the mayor's salary from $20,000 to $24,000 a year was opposed by Taft, who said the mayor deserves the increase but does not want it. He said he has a problem with approving a raise that isn't wanted.
Dash said that she felt if anyone deserved a raise it would be the mayor.
Mayor Bob Boley said he didn't run for mayor for the money and was concerned about down the road, if the village would run into any financial hardships.
Boley's concern over all the increases is from looking at the general fund and seeing overtime in other departments.
Thorn responded that if that situation were to ever happen then council would have to take a hard look at the mayor's and council's salary and other expenses at that time.
Taft noted that the village has faced fiscal emergency in the past but does not believe the village will be in that position again.
Wellsville Village Council meets the first and third Tuesday of month at 6 p.m. at Wellsville Village Hall, 1200 Main St. The next regular meeting will be held Dec. 19.