Town Board considers raising supervisor's pay

The current salary of $32,197 per year is viewed by some elected officials as insufficient.

The Esopus Town Board is considering whether to raise the supervisor’s salary in the town’s next budget.

Board members said during a meeting Monday that the current salary of $32,197 per year is not enough to attract someone with a day job and family to feed.

“I might consider looking at the cost of benefits and offering benefits with the position .. .and increase it a few thousand [dollars],” Councilwoman Gloria VanVliet said.

“Maybe to $40,000 or something like that,” she said. “It might be an enticement to someone younger. Otherwise ... the only one who would be able to be supervisor would be a retiree.”

The current supervisor, Diane McCord, who has announced she will not run for a second term, suggested the amount be set at $50,000.

“You want somebody who’s responsible, somebody that’s going to have the time and the love of the community because you have to have that or you can’t run,” McCord said.

Councilman Wayne Freer, who ran unsuccessfully for supervisor in 2015, said the town should consider raising the ages of its employees instead.

“I’d rather see us go back to ... a full-time Water Department and/or a full-time Highway [Department] because those were two that we actually cut,” he said.

Board members said the Esopus supervisor’s salary is the sixth lowest in Ulster County. The town of Kingston supervisor makes the least, $13,362; the Woodstock supervisor is highest, at $54,000.

VanVliet noted that comparisons aren’t necessarily fair because responsibilities vary.

“Larger towns are paying about the same or a little more, and they have police departments to deal with and villages to deal with,” she said.