GUILDERLAND — While Supervisor Kenneth Runion seemed firm at the first budget workshop that town employees’ salaries be raised no more than 3 percent, he changed his mind this week.

Now, according to the proposed budget for 2006, all town employees will receive 4-percent raises. This is to get non-union employees more in line with union workers’ salaries, Runion said.

The proposed budget for next year is $18 million, including $3.7 million in highway expenses. The town board will vote on the budget at the end of next month, after a public hearing.

The 2005 budget was $17 million, with $3.6 million in highway costs.

Next year’s increase in raises will add $19,000 to the total budget, Runion said, which is less than 1 percent.

The town has not decided yet, he said, whether the raises will be 4 percent in January or 2 percent at the beginning of the year and 2 percent more in July.

In next year’s budget, about $9.3 million will come from sales taxes; $1.2 million will be from mortgage taxes; and $700,000 will be from property taxes, Runion said.

The rest of the town’s funds will come from park and license fees and various grants, he said.

At the town’s first budget workshop, on Sept. 15, Councilman Bruce Sherwin rallied for several employees to get 4-percent raises. He said they deserved more than the standard 3 percent.

Guilderland employees often ask for raises above 3 percent, comparing their salaries to workers in other suburban Albany County towns — Bethlehem, which is about the same size as Guilderland, and the larger Colonie. The Enterprise compiled a list of the 2005 salaries in these towns. (See related chart.)

At the first budget meeting, Runion seemed intent on holding the line. The town has always been more fiscally conservative than other towns, he said, adding that, if one employee gets a raise above 3 percent, many more workers are pounding on his door, asking for more.

But, Runion said then, perhaps if the budget looks good and has no tax increases, some non-union employees who are falling behind in salary should be given 4-percent raises.

At last Thursday’s budget workshop, Runion gave board members a computation of both 3-percent and 4-percent raises for all non-union employees. He said it’s not much of a difference to give everyone an extra 1 percent.

Sherwin, who is not running for re-election this year, was not at the final workshop.
Councilpersons Patricia Slavick and Michael Ricard agreed with Runion. When he first joined the board 11 years ago, Ricard said, "What I walked into wasn’t right." Non-union employees were paid a lot less than union workers, he said.

Runion said that, in the late 1990’s, the administration balanced the budget on the backs of non-union employees and didn’t give any raises.
"I don’t think it affects the work product, but it creates an atmosphere that’s unhealthy," he said.

Councilman David Bosworth was more cautious. He asked if giving an extra 1 percent to non-union employees would hurt the town when union workers negotiate their contracts and ask for more money.

Bosworth also questioned the fairness of across-the-board raises. He asked about employees who had worked for the town a long time or had added responsibilities.

It’s a complicated issue, Runion said, with some employees working overtime and different jobs being hard to compare to each other.

Bosworth suggested that a policy be created to make the salary determinations more fair. Runion said that some sort of management survey should be conducted by an outside agency.

The board then agreed to give 4-percent raises in 2006 and consider doing a survey before the 2007 budget is created.

Open workshops"

According to the state’s Open Meetings Law, if a quorum of the board is discussing town business, such as a budget, the meetings must be open to the public.

Mike Donegan, a Republican running for town board, wrote a letter to the Enterprise editor, complaining about the all-Democratic town board violating the spirit of the law.

Donegan described how hard it was to find the meeting room for the first budget workshop and how budget documents were not made available for his review at the meeting, making discussion difficult to follow.

No chairs were set up for the public. At the first session, Donegan was one of two members of the public — both candidates — to attend. At the second and final workshop, just one member of the public — Democratic candidate Paul Pastore — attended. The Enterprise was the only press to attend the sessions.
"I think our meetings are pretty open," Runion responded through The Enterprise.

Board members spend a lot of time discussing town employees and their salaries, he said, which normally is done in executive session.
"We’ve always done the meeting in the conference room," Runion went on. "That way, board members can sit around a table and take notes, and it’s more of an informal setting....Attendance is never that great, so we play it by ear with the chairs."

Donegan also wrote that council members Slavick and Bosworth passed notes and kept budget documents from Donegan’s view.

Bosworth told The Enterprise that he did pass a note to Slavick, asking her to move a document so he could read it.
"I wanted to be able to read her papers; she had a paper that I didn’t have," Bosworth said. "She had it facing away from me and upside down."

When asked, Slavick agreed. This was the only note that Bosworth passed that night, both he and Slavick said.
Of whispering or holding papers in front of his face so Donegan couldn’t hear him, as it is asserted in the letter, Bosworth said, "I don’t recall whispering anything; I have a loud voice...I moved some paper in the meeting. Certainly that wasn’t intentional."

Taxes

Although town taxes appear lower this year, that may not be the case for all residents. In 2005, the tax rate was 32 cents per $1,000 of assessed valuation. In 2006, it will be 24 cents per $1,000.

However, because of reevaluation this year, it is difficult to calculate the impact rate, Runion said.

The town does reassessment every few years because, without it, as newcomers move to a town, they pay taxes based on the price they paid for their property while parcels that haven’t sold recently usually remain at a lower rate, skewing the tax rolls.

Runion estimated that, in 2006, half of taxpayers will have their taxes stay the same or decrease and half will see their taxes increase slightly.

For the average house this year, highway taxes will increase by less than 2 percent, Runion said. This is mostly due to the increasing cost of fuel, he said.

Because of fuel, Runion said, the highway superintendent kept the rest of his spending down and has planned no big projects for 2006.

Sewer taxes, for those with town sewer services, will increase about 4 percent and water taxes will increase less than 1 percent.

The sewer increase is due to the upgrade of the Nott Road sewage-treatment plant.

At the first budget workshop, water and wastewater superintendent William West said he plans on painting two water towers, which will cost the town $175,000.

This work needs to be done every 20 to 25 years, he said.
"If you let them go, you ruin the tower," he said.
"Less than one percent [tax] increase is good since energy costs are taking a hit," West said. "We’re not raising the rate of water itself."

West also noted that the post-filtration granular activated carbon (GAC) adsorption system will be working soon. It just needs final approval from the state’s Department of Health, he said.

The system will adsorb the residual organic compounds into carbon granules and reduce the formation of disinfectant byproducts. In the past, Guilderland’s level of disinfectant byproducts had exceeded state standards.