Raises are deserved
Pay hikes for control board staffers are reasonable under the circumstances
The Buffalo control board is planning raises for most of its staff and, unsurprisingly, this doesn’t sit well with Buffalo Mayor Byron W. Brown. Both he and control board member George K. Arthur earlier this month voted against the control board budget after being told of the raises. In this case, though, the raises are justified.
The 15 percent salary increase for Bryce Link is justified by his promotion to principal analyst. Three other employees will receive 3 percent raises.
No control board staffer received raises during the city’s wage freeze, lifted in 2007, although there may have been adjustments due to promotions. In this past year, an analyst position was budgeted, but no one was hired and Link took on those duties.
In these economically sensitive times, the mayor’s point about city employees who have not received raises is well taken. But city workers are eligible for raises again, and this small staff is charged with supporting a control board that provides fiscal oversight for the state’s second largest city. Bonding agencies have credited the board, which has produced more than $250 million in savings for the city.
Moreover, as outgoing Executive Director Bertha H. Mitchell said, the board’s operating budget in the new fiscal year beginning Wednesday is 24 percent lower than the budget it adopted one year earlier.
The debate about the existence of the control board will continue, but it has played an important role for Buffalo. These raises are reasonable.
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