North Hempstead transfers Kaiman’s position to new agency

Kim Kaiman, a deputy finance commissioner for the Town of North Hempstead, is no longer on the town’s payroll, effective as of Tuesday.

Kaiman also held the title of executive director of the town’s nonprofit Business and Tourism Development Corporation, a position with no additional pay. The town board voted unanimously 7-0 Tuesday to reappoint her exclusively to this position.

Town spokeswoman Carole Trottere said Kaiman’s job description and compensation will remain the same, though she is no longer a deputy finance commissioner with the town.

The board made the title change because it didn’t “reflect the work she was doing,” Deputy Supervisor Aline Khatchadourian said Tuesday.

The Business and Tourism Development Corporation, which seeks to attract new business development and tourism, was created in 2005 under former town Supervisor Jon Kaiman, Kaiman’s spouse, who served from 2004 to 2013. It is partially subsidized by the town, which budgeted $75,000 toward the nonprofit this year, and will also cover Kaiman’s salary, said deputy town attorney Michael Kelly. The corporation’s 2016 budget was $128,000, Trottere said.

Kaiman, 47, was hired by the town in 2014 as a deputy commissioner of finance, at an annual salary of $75,000. Her salary was bumped up to $81,344 in 2017, Trottere said.

As a non-union town employee, Kaiman received benefits, unlike the corporation’s previous director, Louise Fishman, who was not on the town payroll and thus ineligible for both benefits and a pension.

Town officials confirmed that Kaiman will be the sole employee on the Business and Tourism Development Corporation’s payroll. The nonprofit’s other full-time employee, Deputy Director Roy Smitheimer, is also a salaried town worker. His annual pay of $69,143 is budgeted under the town’s community services department.