During the Dec. 3, 2020 board meeting, Democrats proposed a budget amendment that would have halted pay raises from going into effect for members of the Dutchess County Legislature for 2021.
“Almost all our dedicated county employees are working next year without a raise,” said Legislator Rebecca Edwards. “and as a matter of fairness, we should extend that freeze to legislators’ salaries.”
The amendment was declared out of order after Legislator Will Truitt, who said he agreed with the idea, called upon legislative counsel who explained that it could not be done as part of the budget process.
The raises, which range from $477 for legislators up to $1,018 for Chairman of the Legislature Gregg Pulver, were approved in 2019 on a 13-12 vote, with Truitt and two other Republicans joining nine Democrats including Edwards to vote no and two Democrats joining 11 Republicans including Pulver to support the measure.
As an alternative, Truitt proposed circulating a letter so legislators could pledge to donate $500 of their 2021 salary to charity.
In a news release that followed, Pulver said all 15 members of the GOP caucus had signed the pledge.
Edwards pointed out that while giving to charity is something that many legislators already do, the goal is to return this money to the taxpayers.
“The next few months are going to be very grim and I know that many of us are already trying to give as generously as we can,” said Edwards. “Many of our county employees who are not getting a raise are nonetheless giving to charity and helping out our community in many, many ways so I’d like to think we can do both.”
Edwards said she would confer with legislative counsel on whether a freeze could be enacted by local law next year.
Facebook Comments