Brockport residents comment
on creation of village administrator position

Residents in the Village of Brockport seemed to feel that if the board were fulfilling its tasks to residents, there would be no need for the creation of a village administrator position. Opinions were voiced by several residents at the public hearing on May 16.

"One year we got rid of dispatch because we didn't have the money for it, but now we have the money for a village administrator and a new clerk," resident Linda Borrayo said. "We don't have any new services, either. Maybe if the people on the board did their jobs we wouldn't need a village administrator."

Village officials have been researching changing Village Treasurer Ian Coyle's position into a village administrator role.

Mayor Josephine Matela said recently, "We've looked at ways to streamline operations and a village manager position would relieve some of the processes from department heads."

The position is modeled after village administrator jobs in other municipalities. If it were approved, it's anticipated that Coyle would become the administrator. Matela said the village administrator position would incorporate the duties of the treasurer and some of the treasurer duties would be distributed among other clerks in the village office.

Resident Sharon Kehoe questioned the amount of money the switch from a $45,000 annual salary for the treasurer to the anticipated $52,000 salary for the village administrator would cost taxpayers. "I'd like to know the total cost," she said. "Workman's comp, disability, state and federal taxes - what will the true cost of the position be?"

Coyle said the additional pay would be about $5,500 but didn't have the figures that Kehoe was asking for available and said he would get them to her.

"I'm thinking if we need someone to take on the duties that should be taken care of by the mayor and trustees, then maybe we need a village administrator but not the mayor and trustees," Kehoe said.

Kehoe passed out a survey of Monroe County villages, whether they had administrators and what the mayors' salaries were. She pointed out that a majority of villages in Monroe County didn't have both, a mayor and an administrator. East Rochester, the highest taxed village in the county has both and Pittsford, the wealthiest village in the county with one fourth the tax rate of Brockport has a mayor's salary that is in line with Brockport's, she said, adding that the mayor performs as the village administrator. Kehoe also showed information that the villages of Honeoye Falls and Spencerport both have, or plan to hire, an administrator but that the mayor's salary was about one-half of what Brockport's mayoral salary is. The Brockport mayor's salary is $11,334 for 2005.

"The Village of Brockport doesn't need to pay a village administrator to do the job of the mayor," Kehoe said. "If candidates running for mayor are not able or willing to do the job the residents elect the mayor and the board members to do, the candidate should withdraw from the race."

Alternatively, Kehoe said, if the running of the village is beyond the capacity of the mayor, supported by the trustees, the village board should hire an administrator to do the work and drop the mayor's and trustees' salaries to make up for the increase.

"Given the precarious economic position in the village, I don't think we need this position," resident Francis Borrayo said.

No vote was taken following the public hearing on the village administrator position. The next village meeting is scheduled for Monday, June 20 as the board is now on its summer schedule.