The Greenport Village mayor’s salary will rise from $18,000 to $30,000 per year. The village board last night unanimously approved the bump in compensation last night at its regular monthly meeting. Village trustees’ salaries remain unchanged at $11,600 a year.
The mayor’s salary has not risen since 2007 and with the increased responsibility and time commitment the mayor has taken on, the board felt it was prudent to raise the salary.
But the board tabled a resolution to approve family medical, dental and vision benefits for the mayoral position. All board members — the mayor and the four trustees — are currently entitled to individual health care coverage. Mayor George Hubbard and three of the four trustees — Julia Robins, Jack Martilotta and Doug Roberts — currently all decline the coverage.
At last week’s work session, Roberts reiterated his proposal to eliminate health benefits for all but the mayor. He also proposed doubling the mayor’s salary to $36,000 annually. By eliminating health care coverage for the trustees, the village could compensate the mayor at an adequate level, including family health benefits, and still save $12,737 or 10.52 percent off its current budgeted village board personnel expense.
During the discussion last week, the trustees agreed with the proposal for the mayor’s compensation and benefits but did not discuss or reach a conclusion on the matter of trustee benefits.
The trustees wanted to compensate the mayor at a level that makes it more appealing to people who want to run in the future, Hubbard said in an interview today.
“They want to make the position more readily available to the common guy who wouldn’t be able to do this work if they had to take off from work the amount of time I take off,” Hubbard said. “I’m self-employed so I can do it by moving hours around. I put in over 30 hours a week.”
But they decided to delay action on the issue of health benefits.
“We want to analyze what other villages are doing,” Hubbard added. “Some have benefits for the mayor, some don’t. We want to get some more information so we don’t overburden the taxpayers. We’re taking it one step at a time.”
Also at last night’s meeting, the board approved Somos Uno’s request to hold a cultural festival in Mitchell Park on June 4 from 6 to 10 p.m. Somos Uno (One Greenport) is an informal advisory group to advocate for the Greenport Latino community, similar to Southold Town Anti-Bias Task Force. The group also encourages the Greenport community to come to together socially.
