Harp Seeks $10K Raise

The town needs any money they can find and to give $10,000 more to her? {Have her ask her pal Yale Corp.}
It would be better for her to get $10,00.00 less. If not will I have to pay
more taxes?

Toni Harp knew the pay rate for the mayor's position. If she felt the pay was insufficient, she could have declined her party's nomination and run for higher paying office in politics or the private sector.
But here is the real deal: if Harp thought the salary of the mayor was insufficient, why was this not mentioned at all in the campaign? Why?
We are living in a city that is strapped for cash. A city that may be in deep financial trouble if state and federal funds are cut. A city in which many public servants have not had raises in years.
What bout out poor paraprofessionals in our public schools? Cafeteria workers? Our school security guards have not had sufficient raises in years! We don't have enough security guards, school nurses, guidance counselors!
Several months ago the mayor gave a $20,000 raise to a City Hall employee to perform a totally unnecessary and unprecedented job as mayoral liaison to the Board of Education. $20,000 for a job not done or needed because the mayor attends school board meetings usually, unless she decides to boycott meeting when things do not appear to go her way.
Many people have forgotten that the Board of Aldermen voted to rescind that raise. But months after the Aldermen struck down the raise, it was reported that the $20,000 raise was granted to that city employee surreptitiously though some other funding. Unless that funding was from some outside source, it was taxpayer dollars wasted on political patronage!
But I digress!
Mayor Harp should have been honest enough and courageous enough to consider a $10,000 raise BEFORE the election. It probably not have altered the outcome, but at least in this regard the public would respect her for her transparency.
As it now stands, it looks sneaky and oh, so political!

Well Well Well. In the words of Laurence Fishburne .There it is.

https://youtu.be/FjheHtlVf7A

Good call to ask for raise after election , Antunes is right , New hires are leaving at an high rate due to surrounding towns paying 10-15K more a year.

Even the NHFD gets 15K more then the police. No competitive pay to keep experienced Officers.

Can we provide a performance review?

The comments are interesting. Mayor Harp currently makes $131k? She makes entry level salary for doing a thankless job. She was overwhelmingly re-elected. The same 10 naysayers are making all the noise. No one said anything when JD ran this city with an iron fist. She allows folks to the table, and because these folks can't take over they spread lies and deceit.
If all these people were so against her then they should have made sure she didn't get re-elected. You know why she was overwhelmingly re-elected, because she's smart, experienced and knows what she is doing. From what I saw, her campaign team wasn't even experienced and she still won. 😹😹😹😹
Even at $141k, she is one of the lowest paid upper level executives in the COUNTRY! Give her the $10k.

The start date of any salary increase should be after the next election. Perhaps. better pay will attract better candidates.

The CHUTZPAH...........

Lets look at some of the metropolitan area's elected officials for comparisons. The governor of Ct receives a salary of 150,000 to serve a state of 3 million plus. The mayor of NYC receives a salary of 225,000 serving a city of 8 million plus. The mayors of both Newark, NJ and and Jersey City, NJ who both SERVE cities with populations of 250,00 plus receive salaries of 104 thousand and 114 thousand respectively. Yes, the mayor of New Haven should have periodical raises, but to request a salary increase at a time of CT. And New Haven's financial distress and AFTER getting elected WITH NO OPPOSITION seems a little disingenuous! Maybe use the criteria of the city of New Haven's unionized personnel who's contract is negotiated every 5 years would be appropriate, with whatever raise requested be voted on by the citizenry and NOT the board of Alders! PAD THE PENSION ANYONE???

posted by: LivingInNewHaven on November 20, 2017 5:21am

The comments are interesting. Mayor Harp currently makes $131k? She makes entry level salary for doing a thankless job. She was overwhelmingly re-elected. The same 10 naysayers are making all the noise. No one said anything when JD ran this city with an iron fist. She allows folks to the table, and because these folks can't take over they spread lies and deceit.

I spoke on J D.

If all these people were so against her then they should have made sure she didn't get re-elected. You know why she was overwhelmingly re-elected, because she's smart, experienced and knows what she is doing. From what I saw, her campaign team wasn't even experienced and she still won. 😹😹😹😹
Even at $141k, she is one of the lowest paid upper level executives in the COUNTRY! Give her the $10k.


The reason why she won is like P. T. Barnum said There a sucker born every minute, Their turn for disappointment is just around the corner.She also won Due to the uneducated voters.These type of voters do not understand what it is voting.They vote based on intuition, rather than relying exclusively on their comprehension of the candidates' policies. They will tell you I vote Republican because it is the tradition in our family,or I'm a democrat because my friends are voting democrats. A good democracy relies on an educated and engaged population.and the sad thing is that politicians know this very well and use it very well.

Simple idea- you set you salary before signing a contract for a job. She was hired by the voters in November for the next 2 years at the current salary. Happy to recommend a raise for the next contract - after the 2019 election.

What does winning reelection have to do with qualifying oneself for a pay raise, a raise the mayor will be taking out of the taxpayers pocket by way of increased taxes, taxpayers who did not receive a raise in the last 10 years? Mayor DeStefano made a sleazy attempt to rip-off taxpayer's right after his re-election in 2009 seeking a $25,000 raise only to settle for $16,000. Raises should not be granted solely on the comparison basis with another city, one could easily search the entire state and U.S. for a comparable higher or lower salary.
Rather, the preferred method should be one based on a performance evaluation standard; similar to the one we all receive on our job, Elections notwithstanding. http://www.newhavenindependent.org/index.php/archives/entry/panel_oks_16g_mayoral_raise/. The Mayor's original budget was based on her estimate that New Haven would receive 31M more aid than in budget year 16/17. She blew the entire amount on increased personnel cost, including a $3.6m increase to the finance dept. During the budget proposal in Feb. /March, The Mayor did not propose any increase to her salary or to any staffer in her dept. In addition the mayor proposed reducing all vacant position by $790K to balance her budget. Six months later after the general election and after the state legislature completed the budget announcing a reduction in aid to New Haven from $31M to $18M including a reduction in pilot payments, does the Mayor come out and announce a pay raise for herself although she has only been in office four years. The only justification she offers is that the position has not had a raise in 10 years, six of those years before her time as mayor. So what does the Mayor offer as accomplishments during her four years, a string of law suits with more pending. A pitiful stint as president of the BOE. Run away uncontrollable overtime, and...http://www.newhavenindependent.org/index.php/archives/entry/alders_scott_lewis_jemell_cotto//

continued hypocrisy...

and....http://www.newhavenindependent.org/index.php/archives/entry/mayors_office_budget/

and.... Mayor Vetoes Parts Of Budget.• A bid to require any proposed salary increases for executive management and confidential employees come before the board for approval.

Paolillo said the reason the charter requires the involvement of the Board of Alders in the budget process is "so that it can exercise its sound judgment as to whether or not certain costs and policies are reasonably necessary. The board is responsible for the total amount of money that needs to be spent. To ignore the requirements in that charter in that regard is to ignore the electors and approval—a situation expressly prohibited by the charter."

Alders had raised objections to an unapproved raise for mayoral aide Jason Bartlett in particular.

Harp responded in her veto message that once the alders set acceptable salary ranges, they have no power over decisions made within those ranges.

and... http://www.newhavenindependent.org/index.php/archives/entry/a_10m_hole/

GRANTEED FUNDING PROVIDED IN 2017 PROVIDED IN LEGISLATURE'S ADOPTED BUDGET FOR 2018 (WITH UNASSIGNED SAVINGS REQUIRED) WITH UNASSIGNED SAVINGS ANNOUNCED BY THE GOVERNOR FRIDAY OVERALL CHANGE 2017 TO 2018 ($) OVERALL CHANGE (%)

New Haven 228,912,534 228,016,492 227,697,983 -1,214,550 -0.5

https://ctmirror.org/2017/11/17/education-aid-how-does-your-town-fare-after-the-mid-year-cut/

And what is that range? I am getting 2% on SSA. Big deal $25.67 per mt. extra, puts me in a higher tax bracket...So I will end up with $50.00$ less each mt.

Is she serious? Maybe if she wan't paying Dr. Mayo $700.00/day, plus his pension, spending money on a BS search committee for superintendent of schools when she already knew who was getting the job. and creating a fictitious job for Jason Bartlett, the budget could justify this increase.

clarified....

http://www.newhavenindependent.org/index.php/archives/entry/alders_scott_lewis_jemell_cotto//

http://www.newhavenindependent.org/index.php/archives/entry/mayors_office_budget/

In A Word Notes:

I think she deserves it! Under Desefano New Haven was no more than a getto slum. Listed top 10 on the FBIs most dangerous cities list. Plus the unions (that hold the city financially hostage) were running things more than they are now. How about deunionizing New Haven? That would save millions! How about the board of alders pass a real piece of legislation and for once stick up for the citizens and abolish all public sector unions. They won't because most of them are in the union's pockets or scared. Scared to get booted by the union controlled electorate. So the mayor who puts in more hours than anyone in city hall and works 7 days a week shouldn't get a modest $10K? Quit being haters!

Antunes is right, if anybody needs a raise it's the New Haven Police Officers along with better health benefits and a pension. I'm sure Mayor Harp has lifetime health benefits and a Pension from her time being a State Senator. Didn't she do like 10 terms ?

Clearly, many people here are engaging this issue from the prospective of whether or not they like the present Mayor or not. That is the wrong approach.

The question that needs to be considered is "Does the position of Mayor in New Haven warrant the pay scale upon which the present Mayor is attempting to place it?"

That question is a more objective one and the one that should guide this (or any) discussion concerning this issue.

If we compare the pay for this position with other cities of equal size along with the specific responsibilities of New Haven's Mayor, then we can have an emotion-less, objective conversation here.

Otherwise, the discussion merely dissolved into a cacaphony of noise where the "votes" line up based on like or dislike of the present Mayor, with no consideration for future Mayors or for persons who might consider running for the position.

My vote is "Yes". The Mayoral salary in New Haven should be raised, based on what we ask the person in that position to do and for the credibility of how this city is willing to treat this city's Mayor.

The Rev. Mr. Samuel T. Ross-Lee

Rev Ross-Lee: You are ignoring the timing question. Harp asked for and accepted this job at a given rate of pay. Now, it seems, she is unhappy with her decision and wants more money. If she did not want the job at the present rate of pay, or thought the present pay was too low, she should have asked that the pay be raised before re-applying. Such timing would, also, have fit into the normal budget process and a raise could have been budgeted in the July 1st budget. Now, in the middle of the fiscal year, after the election, she decides the pay is not enough? Okay, if that's the case, she can resign, like any other worker who thinks they are underpaid. Bottom line, raise the pay if you want, but only after the next election.

1644,

I appreciate your position on this. But your's is one of procedure. Mine is one of policy. Perhaps you're right that this should have been handled a different way. But, I did not address that side of the question, purposefully So, you're right to point that out about my position on the issue.

Rev. Ross-Lee

"My vote is "Yes". The Mayoral salary in New Haven should be raised, based on what we ask the person in that position to do and for the credibility of how this city is willing to treat this city's Mayor."

I do not agree with you on your analogy REV; The electorate does not ask the Mayor to accomplish goals and objectives for the city, the Mayor sets those provisions and thus far she has come up short on defined completions. Instead, what I have seen is the maintenance of the status quo left by DeStefano, claims of balance budgets, while the real debt is buried in the raising debt pile now reaching $1.56B, and whereas, the very children you support for a better future will not be able to afford one in New Haven or elsewhere after the adults of today finish making their future financially life impossible for their own gains of today

Harp cannot justify a raise and city credibility just will not cut it.