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Commissioner Balya Gives $1,400 Pay Raise Back to County
Posted 06-02-2004
Making good on his promise to not accept a pay raise this year, Westmoreland County
Commissioner Tom Balya today returned $1,438.38 to the county treasury.
The raise represented a 2.4 percent
cost-of-living increase that is automatically awarded to county elected officials
annually.
"I could not in good conscience accept
a pay increase this year because the county has had to lay off employees and because no
management staff received raises," Balya said.
In the face of a $9 million operating
deficit in the 2004 budget, the Board of Commissioners froze management salaries this
year. Union employees were awarded wage increases based on their collective bargaining
contracts. Another part of the county's cost-savings measures included layoffs of both
management and union employees.
"Every dollar saved improves the
county's bottom line, but we still have work to do," Balya said. "I am
constantly examining additional ways to save our tax dollars. I would also encourage my
fellow elected officials to join me in returning their pay raises this year."
This year's cost-of-living increase for all
county elected officials totals nearly $18,000.
The donation is in addition to Commissioner
Balya's annual $3,500 contribution to county charitable organizations and vocational
technical schools. That donation comes from a 15 percent salary increase that was awarded
to county elected officials in 1996 that Balya opposed but was still approved by the
then-Board of Commissioners. |
