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Onondaga County Executive Joanie Mahoney gives her acceptance speech after winning the Nov. 3 election. Michael Greenlar | mgreenlar@syracuse.com

(Michael Greenlar)

SYRACUSE, N.Y. - Onondaga County Executive Joanie Mahoney will get a $33,458 annual raise in January without ever having to make a case for it in public.

The Onondaga County Legislature approved the 27.3 percent salary increase by a vote of 10 - 6 Tuesday - three months after they set the 2016 budget, one month after the election, four days after it was proposed and during the last session of the year.

Legislators also voted to raise their own salaries, by about $4,000 (or 15 percent) for base salaries and more for leadership posts.

The raises were proposed at 8:45 a.m. Friday during a meeting of the Ways and Means Committee and approved four days later by the full Legislature. There were no public hearings.

About 45 minutes after the meeting's scheduled start time, the Legislature shared its new proposed resolution with the media.

Two people came to comment. One woman dressed in costume as Dolley Madison and called the county executive a liar and Chairman Ryan McMahon a sneak.

Onondaga County Legislature Chairman Ryan McMahon, R-Syracuse, is questioned by the media after the Legislature approved raises for Onondaga County Executive Joanie Mahoney and its own members.

After the television cameras stepped away from McMahon, he said he was irritated with the county executive for letting him be the face of giving raises to politicians.

Mahoney did not respond to requests for interviews. She sent her deputy county executive to answer questions in legislative committee meetings.

"Although people are talking to me for interviews, I didn't really take the lead on this one. This was the county executive," McMahon said.

This is what happened behind the scenes:

About this time last year, legislators considered a vote that would raise salaries for all elected officials. They wanted to do it before the 2015 election so they would not be voting on raises for themselves. The new salaries would have gone into effect in 2016, after voters picked a new set of legislators.

Legislators have not had a raise since 2008.

Mahoney, who started her first term that year, has never had a raise in her 8 years. She starts a third term in January.

Many legislators agreed it was time for a salary increase, but opposed the timing and the size of the increase. The original proposal was to increase Mahoney's salary to $160,000 to match the district attorney.

The issue died quickly in early 2015 after public outrage.

But it did not go away.

Mahoney and legislators were still talking behind the scenes about raising salaries this year. When asked during the election, many said the timing was bad because the county executive had not reached a new contract with the largest rank-and-file county worker union, CSEA.

Mahoney did not propose raises in her budget, even though she said when she once vetoed a raise for Comptroller Bob Antonacci that the budget was the only appropriate time to consider a raise.

Mahoney and all 17 legislators were re-elected Nov. 3.

After the election, Mahoney started calling legislators to push for a raise, according to McMahon and other county legislators.

Legislator Monica Williams, D-Syracuse, agreed to co-sponsor the bill with David Knapp, R-LaFayette, the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee.

Williams said the topic was not new to her. She and Mahoney had been discussing it all year, along with other issues that included finding jobs for people in Williams' district.

Williams said it has bothered her since she was first elected that legislators were in a position to vote on their own salaries.

The resolution that passed Tuesday takes that decision out of the hands of legislators in the future. Future salary changes are tied to the Consumer Price Index and that means they could even decrease.

"I don't care who you are, what walk of life you come from, I don't think anyone should go 8 years without some type of increase in compensation," Williams argued in favor.

The most heated opposition came from Legislator Kevin Holmquist, R-Manlius. He argued that raises should be decided during the budget process and not after the election and in the middle of December, when no one is paying attention.

He asked legislators whether they were proud of what they were doing a month after the election. He asked people why they said on the record before the election that they were opposed to raises or that it wasn't the best time.

"Today, again, we're handed a sheet of paper with numbers on it," Holmquist said inside the Republican caucus before the meeting.

Knapp and other leaders on the Republican side took exception to Holmquist's line of questioning, saying he should have more respect and stop behaving like F. Lee Bailey.

"If I had a nickel for every time I've been called 'Despicable Dave' after your comments on the radio," Knapp said. Knapp argued that the issue had been very public after a weekend of media interviews.

On the Democratic side, Legislator Peggy Chase, D-Syracuse, said she could not vote for a $33,000 raise for the county executive when many people in her district do not make that much in one year. The median household income in Syracuse is $31,566, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

She also said she could not vote on salaries for elected officials when there is still no approved union contract with CSEA.

"I'm not voting for it," she said. "I represent the poorest zip code in the United States."

McMahon said there is a tentative agreement with CSEA and a vote is scheduled for early January.

Republican Floor Leader Patrick Kilmartin, R-Onondaga, suggested the people making $31,000 a year do not have the same responsibilities as the county executive, who oversees 3,500 employees and a budget of $1 billion.

Legislator Kathleen Rapp, R-Liverpool, urged her colleagues to think about the salary increase as a tool for recruiting the next county executive.

Legislator John Dougherty, R-Liverpool, said the timing stinks, but even kids working at McDonald's have had raises in that time.

"I'm not doing this job for money, but if we don't start to address this problem, it's only going to get worse and we're going to see more and more people who say I don't want to do that job," he said.

The following salary increases were approved:

Legislator: From $25,591 to $29,430 - a 15-percent increase.

Legislative floor leader: From $31,608 to $36,349

Legislative chair: From $46,515 to $53,607

County Executive: From $122,413 to $155,871

The Legislature took separate votes on the county executive's salary and their own salaries.

Voting yes to raise the county executive's salary were:

Patrick Kilmartin (R)

Chris Ryan (D)

David Knapp (R)

Derek Shepard (R)

Monica Williams (D)

John Dougherty (R)

Tim Burtis (R)

Judy Tassone (R)

Kathy Rapp (R)

Ryan McMahon (R)



Voting no on raises for the county executive:

Danny Liedka (R)

Peggy Chase (D)

Kevin Holmquist (R)

Casey Jordan (R)

Brian May (R)

Mike Plochocki (R)



Absent:

Linda Ervin (D)

Legislator Burtis is the only legislator who changed his vote to a no when it came time to vote on a raise for legislators.

Legislators dropped a proposal from Friday to raise the salary of Comptroller Antonacci, who had a salary increase in 2012.

After Tuesday's vote, Antonacci resurrected Mahoney's comment from 2011, when she vetoed his raise and said raises should be included in the budget.

"I would like to know what changed?" he said in a press release. "If County Executive Mahoney had the courage of her convictions, she would forgo the pay raise."



Contact Michelle Breidenbach anytime: Email | Twitter | 315-470-3186.

