SARATOGA COUNTY: Open Letter to The Chairman of the Board of Supervisors

Following was released on April 1, 2020

by the Saratoga County Public Health Northway Corridor Task Force:

April 1, 2020

AN OPEN LETTER TO THE

CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS

Dear Chairman Allen,

On behalf of the undersigned, we would like to commend the county leadership for their reversal of their decision to pay county administration 50% above their normal salary compensation, effective March 30th and retroactive to March 20, completely repealing this disparate treatment of management employees.  This will go a long way toward reaffirming the county's commitment to our residents as a board committed to integrity and fiscal responsibility.  The 230,000 residents of our county deserve as much.

We have previously asked for a "reset" and thereby return to basic county policy that allows rank and file employees to continue to earn additional overtime pay as provided for by negotiated contracts or under provisions of the Federal Labor Standards Act.  We have had conversations with constituents, many of whom are county employees, which have raised our collective concern that the county directives imposed will result in union members across the county receiving less opportunity for compensation than that which has been agreed to during labor negotiations.

All our county employees on the front lines of the COVID-19 fight have, and continue to, work selflessly to carry out their responsibilities during these difficult times, putting the needs of our county residents first.  We unwaveringly support their efforts and commend their tireless work to protect the citizens of our county and it is only proper that the county does the same and respects the provisions of the negotiated contracts that are in place and the promises that were made by administration and county leadership are honored. The publicly expressed reasoning by members of county administration for paying time and a half for every hour worked was that county employees would otherwise not come to work. This is patently untrue and recent discussions conducted with county employees has confirmed that fact. Retroactively taking away back pay promised and negotiated with county employees is a terrible practice that likely will expose the county to a legal challenge and can severely affect morale amongst the employees that serve our residents day-to-day.

We were unsettled to learn that in what can only be characterized as a political April Fool’s Day prank, the previously promised time and a half compensation to the rank and file employees will now be completely withdrawn, back to March 20^th on a retroactive basis so as to not appear in an employee’s next payroll check. Although we did not agree with the decision to compensate non-management employees with a 50% raise under the framework first set forth by the administration and the compensation committee, to go back on a compensation promise made in order to force the facts to fit a new narrative for political gain does a disservice to all county employees, shows bad faith in labor negotiations and does not foster a healthy employer/ employee relationship. Non-management rank and file should be paid their time and half as promised by the administration and compensation committee for this pay period.

While we have not received a response to our multiple requests for a full meeting of the Board of Supervisors to discuss this issue and resolve it, we once again ask for a "reset" by the county's compensation committee and once again call for that meeting of the Board of Supervisors to take place so we may discuss the serious inequities that the county is asking our union membership to accept.

Supervisor Phil Barrett, Town of Clifton Park 
County Supervisor Jonathan Schopf, Town of Clifton Park
Supervisor Kevin Tollisen, Town of Halfmoon 
Supervisor Darren O’Connor, Town of Malta
Supervisor Theodore Kusnierz Jr, Town of Moreau
Supervisor John Lant, Town of Wilton 
County Supervisor Tara Gaston, City of Saratoga Springs
County Supervisor Matthew Veitch, City of Saratoga Springs
Supervisor Eric Connolly, Town of Ballston 
Supervisor Benny Zlotnick, Town of Milton