Attorney: Rockland officials owe thousands

Elected municipal officials who've been paid thousands of dollars as commissioners of a regional Rockland County sewer district must give the money back, the county attorney says.

Under county law, the officials are not entitled to the $2,375-a-year salaries they've been pulling down for years, County Attorney Thomas Humbach wrote in a recent memo to County Executive Ed Day, a Republican.

Eight seats on the 13-member Rockland County Sewer District 1 board are filled by elected officials, including town supervisors of Ramapo, Clarkstown and Orangetown; and officials from villages in those towns. Five seats are reserved for residents of Ramapo, Clarkstown and Spring Valley who don't hold elective office.

The elected officials include Ramapo Supervisor Christopher St. Lawrence, Clarkstown Supervisor Alex Gromack, Orangetown Supervisor Andy Stewart, Spring Valley Mayor Demeza Delhomme, Hillburn Mayor Craig Flanagan and Sloatsburg Trustee Daniel O'Leary.

"The county is duty bound to seek reimbursement for these unauthorized payments," Humbach wrote.

A proposed resolution to go after the money was sent to the county Legislature, which oversees the sewer district. But Legislature Chairman Alden Wolfe, D-Suffern, said it was sent back to the County Attorney's Office because Humbach recently determined that the county can collect a debt without legislation when contentious college tuition chargebacks were discussed.

The officials were told in January they would no longer be paid. They said they were unaware they might have to repay the money, although they'd continue to serve without pay.

Gromack, who has been paid $24,982 since he joined the sewer board in 2004, said the county would have figure out how to recoup the money.

"I don't know how they go about. Some people are no longer there," he said. "People pay (income) taxes on it, and Social Security (taxes). It seems problematic for the county."

"Everybody pays taxes on their incomes," said Stewart, who's received $6,927 as a commissioner since 2012. "Is there a way to get that money back?"

St. Lawrence has gotten $29,377 since 2003, which appears to be when commissioners started getting paid. He didn't return telephone messages Wednesday and Thursday.

Delhomme said he would have no issue with paying back the $2,737 he's received since 2013.

"If it's illegal, it's illegal," he said. "I'm a public servant."

Flanagan, also paid $2,737 since 2013, said he'd follow the county Legislature's decision.

"If this is the way it has to be done, I understand," he said.

A phone message left with Sloatsburg Village Hall for O'Leary, who's gotten $4,948 since 2013, wasn't returned Thursday.

Humbach, who was appointed county attorney by Day in January 2014, also noted that former Clarkstown Councilman John Maloney, who was ousted in the 2009 election, stayed on as a sewer commissioner and received the salary until recently, even though his seat is reserved for an elected official.

He also received $29,377 dating back to 2003.

Maloney said when he lost his Town Board seat, the sewer district board nominated him to continue as a Clarkstown resident commissioner, so he was surprised when he was told to step down in January.

"They nominated me and they voted me on. So I stayed on," he said. "They know I was no longer a councilman."

Sewer commissioners are appointed by the county Legislature, not the sewer board. Because Maloney wasn't appointed to a resident seat by the Legislature, he cannot serve, Humbach said.

The citizen sewer commissioners are Julius Graifman, Kevin Connell, Seth Lehman, Bessie Walker and Thomas Ninan. They are entitled to salaries, according to county law. The board meets monthly.

County Legislator Aney Paul, D-Nanuet, is the other "elected" sewer board commissioner, but hasn't drawn a salary, according to the district's payroll records.

The sewer district recently lost a decade-long court battle over the price of a 64-acre Hillburn property, which it condemned in 2005 for a new treatment plant. It was ordered to pay about $12.7 million to the former owner, Split Rock Partnership.

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