The Newburgh City Council has a new salary increase proposal that will go before the public for comment. The council approved the calling of a public hearing on the increases during their meeting on Monday, November 25. The public hearing has been set for Monday, December 9 at 7 p.m. at City Hall.

The proposal and resolution were presented to the Newburgh City Council during their November 21 work session meeting by City Corporation Counsel Michelle Kelson. The newly proposed annual salary for the mayor would be $22,500, the annual salary for the at-large councilmembers would be $20,000 and the annual salary for the four ward councilmembers would be $17,000 for each. Each of the salaries have decreased since previously proposed.

“After convening and completing the public hearing, the council can then determine whether they wish to vote on that local law, legally they can do that also at the December 9th meeting or they can delay the vote for any subsequent meetings,” said Kelson. “This local law again is subject to a referendum on petition which means there’s a 45 day period after adoption in which a petition can be filed to compel referendum so the effective date of the local law is delayed at a minimum of 45 days and potentially until after a referendum can be held if the petition is filed.”

The city council previously held a vote on Tuesday, November 12 to increase their salaries which was defeated that night by a 4-3 vote. Councilmembers Giselle Martinez, Ramona Monteverde, Patty Sofokles and Bob Sklarz had voted against the salary increase. Mayor Torrance Harvey and councilmen at-large Robert McLymore and Omari Shakur had voted in favor of the increase. The proposed salary for the mayor would have been $25,000, the at-large council members would have received $22,500 and the four ward members would have received $20,000.

Councilwoman Martinez asked Kelson if this item would delay the vote on the city budget and if the items could be handled separate from each other. Kelson explained that the city would need to make sure that there’s sufficient funds allocated in the budget to support the raises and there would need to be an amendment to the city charter.

“If you adopt a budget that contemplates these raises and the local law fails, you will have some extra money allocated in your budget, which you could reallocate for other things,” explained Kelson. “If the budget does not contemplate these raises and the local law does pass, you would then have to adjust the budget at some point subsequent in order to make sure that the salary line has a sufficient allocation to cover those raises. So it requires two independent actions, and you need both in order for the raise to go into effect, but you still have two paths of legislation that you have to adopt.”

Councilwoman Monteverde asked Kelson if a member of the public came before the council and was seeking a petition, would they have needed to stop the hearing right then and there to which Kelson replied no as the public hearing is meant to collect comments on the proposal.

“A petition has to be filed in a very specific way. It’s a legal procedure, you have to get signatures from the qualified voters of the city,” said Kelson. “If the council approves the local law, that starts the 45 day period. Qualified residents of the city would then have 45 days to collect those signatures in the appropriate manner and file that with the city clerk.”

Kelson further explained that she alongside the city clerk, would go through and validate the signatures and the petition. If the petition was valid, then a referendum would be set up. The referendum would then be held either at the general primary in June 2025 or at the general election in November 2025.

Councilman McLymore also commented on the salaries. “These salaries that are proposed will be the new proposed [salaries] is less than what was originally proposed,” said McLymore.

“These revised lower salaries have been incorporated into the budget if the council decides on Monday to move forward with scheduling the public hearing and then it’s a new local law because it’s a different salary amount,” said City Manager Todd Venning in response to Councilman McLymore.