The verdict is in. The Westchester Board of Legislators' Compensation Advisory Committee has decided that our legislators are underpaid and deserve a raise in 2010, retroactive to 2006.

Committee Chairman William Mooney admits that these are difficult economic times. Residents face increasing costs in energy and taxes (not to mention food). County employees have been without a contract for three years. Yet these "part-time" legislators deserve a raise from $49,000 a year to $52,890. Throw in the stipends for chairing committees, benefits and perks and you wind up with part-timers who earn more than full-time, rookie police officers in N.Y.C. Even without the increases they earn more. Are we now to believe that the Westchester ruling class does more important work than a policeman? There is something very wrong with this picture.

Regular readers of mine know full well how I feel about county government and that I am in favor of the “Task Force to Eliminate County Government.” However, until this task force becomes a force to be reckoned with, we must deal with the government we have. On that point, we in the North County News region are lucky to be represented by Legislators Mike Kaplowitz and George Oros. Both have put their rhetoric into principle and have said “no” to the increases as put forth by the Compensation Committee. They have also taken the people’s side versus William Ryan, chairman of the Board of Legislators.

For George Oros, leader of the loyal opposition, his stance is constant with his conservative Republican principles. As a member of the minority party he has already felt the wrath of Chairman Ryan when his office space was cut in half.

Here are the proposals of Legislator Oros and the Republican Caucus:
• Oppose any increase in salary or stipends for legislators, committee chairs or leadership positions.

• Support the Panel’s recommendation that, “Any and all compensation (base salary and/or stipend) increases approved by the Board of Legislators should be effective Jan. 1, 2010 starting with the legislative session subsequent to the next election.”

• Support the Panel’s recommendation that, “Any compensation increases after 2010 should be considered only in odd numbered years.”

• Support the Panel’s recommendation that, “All compensation increases should be voted on by the legislators prior to the election and, if approved, should be effective on the subsequent Jan. 1.

• Support the Panel’s finding that, “The structure of the legislative body would benefit from a review with the intent of creating accurate job descriptions from streamlining for efficiency and effectiveness.”

The proposals further state: “We further support the elimination of stipends controlled by the Board chairman for committee chairs and/or other positions. We recommend that stipends for committee chairs and leadership positions be set in advance in a similar manner as legislator salaries and remain from year to year as a fixed amount that can only be changed by a vote of the entire Board of Legislators during a change to the salary structure.”

As for Legislator Kaplowitz standing up for his constituents instead of his party's leaders, this showed real guts and comes with a cost. I am proud to call him friend.

In his statement he said, “I particularly agree with the central finding of the Advisory Board that there shall be no stipend or salary increase for any legislative leaders or legislators during this term.”

He also recommended the following:
• No retroactive raises.
• Pay increases should be based on cost-of-living adjustments beginning Jan. 1, 2010.
• Leadership and committee chair should have a salary attached to their position and this should be known in advance. The goal should be to eliminate stipends. Creating a fixed salary per job recognizes increased workload and responsibility, parallels the fixed salary status of other elected Westchester officials, and furthers budgetary transparency.

Whether the rest of the Board of Legislators goes along with the recommendations of either Kaplowitz or Oros remains to be seen. The last time the full board ignored all the recommendations except the part on pay raises, which they enacted.

In the mean time, feel good that at least some of our representatives put our interests first. In this day and age of self-serving politicians we are lucky to have the exceptions.
This is my opinion. You may beg to differ.

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