COVID-19 OT for county officials rescinded
By Francine D. Grinnell
SARATOGA COUNTY, N.Y. » Chairman of the County Board of Supervisors Preston Allen posted an open letter addressed to Saratoga County residents in which he provides an explanation as to the decision to and reversal of a recent decision to compensate certain employees at a rate of timeand-a-half during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Allen promised residents “what I’m committing to you through this letter, is that the Board of Supervisors, under my leadership, will always act in the best interests of the county residents and taxpayers, and with utmost transparency, in order to do what we can to protect you from the spread of COVID-19.”
In addition Allen states: “Contrary to what you might read in the news, I want to assure you that the county’s elected officials, County Administrator, Deputy County Administrator, Director of Human Resources, and the Commissioner of Emergency Services have been compensated at their regular salary.
“The only employees getting time and a half are those who are working in our COVID-19 command center. This group varies day to day but is on average staffed with 40 employees,” Preston said (in an excerpt from the statement, which can be read in its entirety online. https://www. saratogacountyny.gov/).
On Monday, March 30, a first statement released to the press from the members of the Northway Corridor Public Health Task Force, a group comprised of the Saratoga County Supervisors,
expressed that “the topic of overtime for Saratoga County employees continues to be an issue of concern for the undersigned. As part of the County’s Emergency Declaration, the Board of Supervisors provided discretion to County Leadership on March 17, which many of us believed was a necessary step as we found ourselves in the midst of the pandemic.
“At the same time, $1 million was allocated for various necessary expenses related to the County’s response to the COVID-19 outbreak.”
The undersigned on the first open letter were Town of Clifton Park Supervisor Phil Barrett, Town of Halfmoon Supervisor Kevin Tollisen, County Supervisor for the Town of Clifton Park, Town of Malta Supervisor Darren O’Connor, Town of Moreau Supervisor Theodore Kusnierz, Jr. , Town of Wilton Supervisor John Lant, Town of Ballston Supervisor Eric Connolly, and City of Saratoga Springs Supervisors Tara Gaston and Matthew Veitch.
The supervisors stated that “Based on the track record of County Leadership since the March 17 Board of Supervisors meeting, we believe discretion for decision making purposes during this public health emergency should be limited and more specific with the sole authority to set and approve compensation structures resting with the full constituted Board of Supervisors after public deliberation and vote.
“Clear and concise information regarding the present compensation structure must be released now to end the uncertainty for the Members of the Board of Supervisors, County employees and most importantly, Saratoga County residents whose tax dollars are entrusted to the Board to expend on their behalf.”
Continuing, the Northway Corridor Public Health Task Force added additional concerns:
“The stark reality is that we must be mindful of the current economic conditions in Saratoga County and across the country, when considering any allocation of funding. Our neighbors are losing their jobs and/or income. With few exceptions, businesses have been forced to close. We should expect a significant decrease in every revenue source governments use for annual operations and we must be mindful of these considerations when evaluating and approving any compensation structure.”
In response to Allen’s letter, a second open letter in response to Allen from the Supervisors signing the first letter, with the addition of Town of Milton Supervisor Benny Zlotnick, has been sent to Allen, responding to the reversal in compensation.
(That letter in its entry is attached to this article online).
The letter states “We would like to commend the county leadership for their reversal of their decision to pay county administration 50 percent above their normal salary compensation, effective March 30 and retroactive to March 20, completely repealing this disparate treatment of management employees.
“This will go a long way toward reaffirming the county’s commitment to our residents as a board committed to integrity and fiscal responsibility. The 230,000 residents of our county deserve as much.
“We have previously asked for a “reset” and thereby return to basic county policy that allows rank and file employees to continue to earn additional overtime pay as provided for by negotiated contracts or under provisions of the Federal Labor Standards Act. We have had conversations with constituents, many of whom are county employees, which have raised our collective concern that the county directives imposed will result in union members across the county receiving less opportunity for compensation than that which has been agreed to during labor negotiations.”
“In addition, the letter continues by stating “the publicly expressed reasoning by members of county administration for paying time and a half for every hour worked was that county employees would otherwise not come to work. This is patently untrue and recent discussions conducted with county employees has confirmed that fact. Retroactively taking away back pay promised and negotiated with county employees is a terrible practice that likely will expose the county to a legal challenge and can severely affect morale among the employees that serve our residents day-to-day.”
“We were unsettled to learn that in what can only be characterized as a political April Fool’s Day prank, the previously promised time and a half compensation to the rank and file employees will now be completely withdrawn, back to March 20 on a retroactive basis so as to not appear in an employee’s next payroll check.
“While we have not received a response to our multiple requests for a full meeting of the Board of Supervisors to discuss this issue and resolve it, we once again ask for a “reset” by the county’s compensation committee and once again call for that meeting of the Board of Supervisors to take place so we may discuss the serious inequities that the county is asking our union membership to accept.”