Islip approves 18% pay raises for town clerk, receiver of taxes

Islip Town on Tuesday approved pay raises of nearly $20,000 each for two of its elected officials — roughly an 18% bump for both.

Town Clerk Linda Vavricka and Receiver of Taxes Andy Wittman will receive the raises. Wittman oversees the billing and collection of property taxes within the town, while Vavricka oversees town records, licenses and issues passports. 

Islip’s five-member town board approved the measure in a 3-2 vote.

The board last voted to raise the salaries for those positions to $85,000 in 2016. Elected town officials receive inflation-related raises each year, and both the clerk and tax receiver make annual salaries of just over $106,000.

The board's approval raises both their salaries to $125,000 per year, an increase of roughly $18,672.

Before the approval, Councilman John Lorenzo, who proposed the pay bump, said it was needed to bring Islip’s officials on par with counterparts in neighboring towns.

“Imagine all of these cost of living [increases]. We have other receivers of taxes [and] town clerks, in the town over, who are making more money,” he said. "It’s what’s right to keep people here.”

In Babylon Town, where the population of roughly 220,000 is about 64% the size of Islip’s, both the clerk and receiver of taxes make about $114,000 per year, according to that town's information. 

Brookhaven, the only town in Suffolk County with a larger population than Islip, pays its clerk and tax receiver about $133,000 each, according to data from that town.

“We weren’t near that. It’s hard to recruit good people to stay and keep doing the jobs we need for our constituents. We’re not paying them comparable salaries,” Lorenzo said.

Vavricka and Wittman did not respond to Newsday’s requests for comment in the lead-up to Tuesday's meeting. Islip Town spokeswoman Caroline Smith also did not provide a comment on behalf of the town beforehand.

Vavricka has been in office since January 2024 and Wittman since November 2021, according to payroll data provided earlier by the town to Newsday.

A simple majority vote by Islip’s town board is required to change the salary of any elected town official.