Two Greenport trustees are taking a stand and asking their fellow board members forsake village-afforded health benefits in favor of utilizing those funds for much-needed road repairs and other community initiatives.
Greenport Village Trustees Doug Roberts and Jack Martilotta, in their report for Thursday’s village board work session, which takes place at 7 p.m. Thursday at the Third Street Firehouse, ask that the board just say “no” to the benefits in a vote this month.
The issue was central to the most recent campaign.
“During the election in March, the public spoke plainly and clearly that they believe we are over-compensated. At $35,000 per year for trustee combined cash and benefits, and approximately $45,000 for the mayor, we far outpace villages of similar size, most of whom provide no compensation at all, or modest cash compensation and no benefits,” Roberts and Martilotta wrote in the report.
For example, they said, in the Village of Hempstead, which has 750,000 residents and a $75 million general fund budget and which is “roughly 300 times the sizes of Greenport,” trustees are compensated $25,000 per year. Trustees in the village of Rockville Centre, which has 25,000 residents and a $42 million budget, trustees are also paid $25,000 per year. Trustees in the Village of Babylon, where there are 12,000 residents, trustees are paid $7,500 per year. In the Village of Brightwaters, with 3,000 residents, trustees are unpaid with no benefits, Robert and Martilotta said.
“Village Hall staff has declined in terms of numbers over the past several years, and more and more projects get put on the back burner. While we threw quite a party on the 4th of July weekend, we currently have no resources to:
- Enforce housing safety codes in our rental permit law
- Provide a true planning function despite rapid influx of development
- Review and make recommendations for updates to our Local Waterfront Revitalization Plan
- Review and make recommendations for updates to the rest of our code
- Lead a community development effort that seeks grant funding for capital improvements and new programs
- Pursue an expansion of our sewer to increase revenue and protect the waters
- Develop a comprehensive road and sidewalk repair plan and effort.”
According to Roberts and Martilotta, “The other three members of this board have all said publicly, on record, that they are pursuing other health care insurance options, indicating that they have heard the public’s voice on this issue. A person’s health and health care is a private matter and we do not wish to have further discussion about any personal choices around health care with our colleagues on the board and ask the public to refrain from such questioning.”
But, they said, the open enrollment period for the Affordable Care Act begins in November, so the time to act is now.
“Health insurance is a personal and private matter,” they said, adding that “as a matter of principle,” they have chosen not “to ask the taxpayers to provide us with $25,000 per year in healthcare benefits. It is time for us to stand up, as a board, on behalf of the taxpayers of this village. It’s time to put taxpayer dollars into efforts to protect the village’s long-term economic health instead of into our own pockets.”
To that end, Roberts and Martilotta said they formally request a following resolution, also proposed at the April meeting, and which was voted down 3 to 2, to be put to vote once again at the regular meeting on September 24.
The text of the proposed resolution reads as follows: “Resolution ending the health care benefit for the current Mayor and Board of Trustees and any future persons elected to the office of Mayor or Trustee, effective December 31, 2015, and directing Treasurer Brandt to reserve these funds for increased staffing or capital improvements in each of the funds from which they were drawn.”
Greenport Village Mayor George Hubbard, when contacted for comment by SoutholdLOCAL, said he had just received the trustees’ report at 10 a.m. that morning and had been at work and had not had time to read it thoroughly. However, he said, Roberts and Martilotta, in their analysis, had looked at up-island village and if they’d looked locally to compare, they’d see “we’re in line.” Villages further west have a “completely different picture than what we have here.”
As for the benefits, Hubbard said in April, the three board members had said the issue would be taken care of by the end of the year. “If they want to force the issue, we’ll have a motion and it will come to a vote, and we’ll see what happens. They just want immediate satisfaction, I guess.”
Neither Trustee Julia Robins and nor Trustee Mary Bess Phillips responded to a request for comment. At earlier meetings, both have said they are working to address their insurance situations but would transition away from village insurance.
“If we wait until the end of the year that is not fair to the other trustees,” Roberts said. “The ACA open enrollment begins November 1 and we need to let these folks plan their lives. Our proposed resolution enacts a policy now that the insurance compensation benefit is revoked by December 31, 2015. I think this plan shows respect for our colleagues and I hope we will make it official at the September 24 meeting so we can all move on.”
Martilotta did not immediately respond to requests for comment as he was out of town for military duties.
