County Executive Attempts to Pay Position $150,000 Despite Legislature’s Reduction to $99,000 and Warnings From Poloncarz
The Buffalo News’ Matthew Spina writes about it here and the Editorial Board agrees with Poloncarz’s action here.
Full news release below:
ERIE COUNTY, NY—Yesterday, after a number of warnings to the county administration and county Personnel Department, Erie County Comptroller Mark Poloncarz stopped payment of new County Attorney Jeremy A. Colby’s first paycheck because his annual salary is incorrectly set at $149,831, despite a reduction to $99,226 by the Legislature in this year’s budget.
Although Poloncarz, who signs the County’s checks, is unable to set or change a County employee’s salary himself, he does have the authority to stop incorrect payments from going through, and was forced to do so in this case, after requests for the Personnel Department to adjusting the county attorney’s salary to the correct amount of $99,226 went unanswered.
“I certainly feel for Mr. Colby because this is a tough spot for him to be in and he did nothing wrong. I would have preferred to pay him the correct amount, but my office is unable to adjust the salary, only determine whether the correct amount is being paid, and if not, stop said incorrect payment,” said Poloncarz. “Our office and Mr. Colby are put in this situation because the county executive insists on ignoring county law and Judge Glownia’s decision and paying him $50,000 more than was budgeted for his position. This is yet another example of how it seems the rules apply to everyone but the county executive.”
Poloncarz continued, “Simply put, Collins doesn’t have the authority to unilaterally set the county attorney’s salary at anything of his choosing. As the County’s fiscal watchdog, it is my duty to ensure County employees and vendors are paid no more than what they are supposed to be. The county attorney’s annual salary was set by the Legislature at $99,226. As such, that is all I am legally authorized to pay him.”
Under Section 2608 (A) of the County Charter, the Legislature has the authority to reduce a salary without executive approval, and did so in this situation by reducing the county attorney’s salary to $99,226. The county executive cannot veto that reduction.
In an attempt to avoid withholding Colby’s paycheck, the Comptroller’s Office sent a memorandum on March 10, 2011 and a letter on March 16, 2011 to County Commissioner of Personnel John Greenan alerting him of the error and requesting an adjustment in salary be made, which received no response.