N. Hempstead board to vote on pay hikes

The North Hempstead town board is slated to vote Tuesday on whether to raise its salaries and those of other elected officials by as much as 37.5 percent.

Under the proposal, first shopped by interim Supervisor John Riordan last month, town board members would see their pay increase to $55,000 from $40,000 a year, a hike of $15,000, or 37.5 percent.

Other elected officials also would see increases. The receiver of taxes would get $115,000 a year, an increase of 27.8 percent, while the town clerk’s position would pay $105,000, or 23.5 percent more per year.

The town supervisor, who currently makes $133,000 a year, would see an increase of $5,000, or 3.8 percent.

The money for the increases, which total $140,000, would come out of the town’s contingency fund, because the raises were not included in the 2014 budget.

The raises would take effect in January, meaning Riordan, the town attorney who was appointed to the supervisor’s seat in October, will not personally benefit from the measure. Riordan will step down once Democratic Supervisor-elect Judi Bosworth takes office next month.

Riordan has argued that pay for the town’s elected officials has been stagnant for too long, and that he wanted to bring salaries in line with other comparable towns on Long Island.

Still, some observers and members of the town board have questioned the timing of the measure and whether it should have been proposed by an elected official who can be held accountable for the idea, rather than by an appointed one.

A public hearing is scheduled for the measure at tonight’s regular town board meeting, which begins at 7:30 p.m. at Town Hall, 220 Plandome Rd., Manhasset.