The Newburgh City Council held a public hearing on Monday, October 28, to receive public comments concerning a Local Law amending Section C4.00 entitled “Legislative Powers fixed in Council” of the City Charter. The resolution presented proposes salary increases for the mayor and council members and has already been commented on at previous work sessions and city council meetings.

The city council and government are considering an increase to increase the salaries of the mayor and council members. The proposed salary for the mayor is $25,000, the at-large council members would receive $22,500 and the four ward members would receive $20,000.

The city council opened up to the public on Monday night to receive comments on the salary increase. Commentators were asked to give their names and were given five minutes to speak. Resident Jesse Flaitz inquired during comments about the time when the increases would be implemented and the current salary and the length of time it’s been in effect. “My understanding is this is about a 40 percent increase if I’m not mistaken, approximately,” said Flaitz. “I’m not opposed to this by the way, I think y’all have done a great job and this is a lot of work.”

Resident Dennis Grant said during his comments that with the increases, he requested an amendment in which the city council members should smile more and interact with members of the community when out doing their respective duties, rather than interacting with each other, their friends and families.

“I oppose the amendment. I think the city council members should be converted to a full time position, drawing a full time salary at about $60,000,” said resident Michael LeBron.

Resident Kippy Boyle said she was not opposed to a salary increase for the city but was concerned about the limitations for constituents, such as apartment increases, limitations on incomes, costs of living and so forth. She called the increases to the salaries excessive and asked the council to reflect and rethink on it.

Other commentators said they were not opposed to the increase to the salaries for the city council but sought further clarification on the timeline for the increases or even suggested other amounts to be considered for the raises instead of the ones currently proposed.

City council members addressed several of the comments made about the salary increases during their comment period. “I’m not in support of these big increases at this time so therefore I probably will be voting no if it comes up for a vote,” said Councilwoman Ramona Monteverde. “I can see a five increase, perhaps maybe moving it up to 15. I think 20 is a little excessive. Wanted to make sure that the community is aware of where I stand on this issue.”

Other council members also did not support the increase. “A few years back the city council received a substantial increase in salaries, I do not support an increase at this time,” said Councilman Robert Sklarz.

Other council members spoke about the raises with other points for the public to consider. “This is my fifth year on the city council. My second year of the city council, I opposed any raise for the city council. As being here my fifth year, we need more,” said Councilman Omari Shakur. “People that want to speak against the raise, I encourage them to switch sides and come over here and do this job because it’s a job that’s very demanding.”

Mayor Torrance Harvey spoke on the salaries, which he said City Manager Todd Venning has been planning over the past few years to increase salaries across all grades. The last few groups to get raises in his plan were the council members, senior typists and the higher ranking police leadership roles.