Amherst residency rule takes toll on jobs
Town Board presses probe of violations
Published: May 26, 2009, 12:30 am
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The Amherst Town Board has fired its second employee this year for failing to meet the town’s residency requirements. Another employee quit under pressure. Several others are being investigated for similar residency violations.
Altogether, these employees’ wages and benefits easily exceed $200,000 in taxpayer money, according to payroll records.
The firings and investigations represent the first time anyone can recall that town employees have lost their jobs because of where they live.
The message is clear: If you want to work for the town, you have to live in it.
“The Town Board is not taking residency violations, or alleged residency violations, lightly,” said Human Resources Director Robert P. McCarthy. “When two people get terminated in a period of a few months, I think it sends the message that the board is not fooling around.”
The Town of Amherst is not the only municipality with a residency requirement. Many local governments have them.
But enforcement is another issue.
City of Buffalo administrators have spent the last nine to 10 months trying to hire a residency sleuth to investigate the numerous claims regarding city government employees who are supposed to live in the city but actually reside out in the suburbs.
But finding someone with the right skills has been difficult. The city hasn’t had such an investigator in nearly seven years, which many believe has only encouraged employee fraud.
Meanwhile, Amherst may seek to put a detective on retainer for just this purpose after the recent flurry of firings and resignations.
The board voted, 4-1, last week to terminate James D. Peck, a Buffalo resident who has worked for Amherst as a computer support technician for the past two years. He was earning more than $30,000 plus benefits.
In February, the board voted to fire James I. Johnson, the town’s assistant engineer, after agreeing with the supervisor that Johnson was actually a resident of the Village of Elba in Genesee County. He was making roughly $85,000 a year.
Another employee, Jason Engel, resigned in February after the town began investigating his residency status, which was determined to be Springville. Engel had worked as a senior draftsman in the town’s Planning Department. He was earning more than $63,000 a year plus benefits.
The town’s residency requirement has broad support on the Town Board.
“The bottom line is this: We have a residency resolution. It should be followed without exception — and if there is an exception, it should come before the Town Board,” said Council Member Guy Marlette, who has pushed for the aggressive investigation of employees who may not live in town. “If we are employing them, they should be part of our tax base, part of our community.”
Non-Amherst residents who are hired by the town are expected to find a home in Amherst within six months but are given an automatic six-month extension if they request it. Further extensions are given at the board’s discretion.
Deputy Supervisor Mark Manna, who headed last week’s board meeting in Supervisor Satish Mohan’s absence, said, “I have a zero tolerance policy with this. If you’re going to take taxpayer money, you have to make every effort to be domiciled in the town that you’re receiving a paycheck from.”
Marlette said he began seriously looking into potential residency violations after Comptroller Darlene A. Carroll pointed out to him that about 10 of the W-2 tax forms that were mailed out to employees early this year were returned as having invalid addresses.
That led to multiple investigations, three of which are still pending, McCarthy said.
Peck, the most recent employee to be fired for nonresidency status, defended his Buffalo residency by saying that he was always honest with the town about his living situation and had done his best to comply with the town’s residency laws, given his current financial circumstances.
The town’s Civil Service Employees Association has filed a grievance on Peck’s behalf, contending that Peck is owed a disciplinary hearing. Peck added that he never stopped looking for a place to live and was hoping to lease a house from Uniland just before he was fired.
Though Peck was well-regarded as an employee, his bad credit history made it difficult for him to find a new place to live with his wife in Amherst, he said. If he sold his current house, he added, the proceeds would have gone to pay off other outstanding debts.
He asked for more time, but the board did not grant his request.
“I’ve never tried to hide my situation,” Peck said. “I was very straightforward with them from the very beginning. I went out of my way to inform them of my situation. They’re not hunting me down.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do,” he said. “I’m really stuck.”
stan@buffnews.com
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