Schmitt: pay raises will be rescinded

Following four days of intense criticism after the Republicans’ passage of a significant pay raise for three top county legislators, the Legislature’s presiding officer, Peter Schmitt, said on Friday that he would call for a bill to rescind the increases.

The initial pay raise bill — which did not appear on the Legislature’s Jan. 25 agenda —passed in a party-line vote, 11-8.

Schmitt, a Republican from Massapequa, said he based his decision to withdraw the raises on three factors: a predicted shortfall of $89 million in county sales tax receipts for 2009; the Long Island Power Authority’s rescission of a plan to give 2 percent raises to its employees; and a 2009 report from the U.S. Department of Labor that the average increase in compensation for American workers was the lowest in decades.

“I have heard the voices of the public and I am aware of the impact of the current economy on all Nassau residents,” Schmitt said in a statement on Friday. “The legislators in Nassau have sacrificed pay increases for the past 15 years, and at this time, this sacrifice shall continue until times improve.”

Schmitt also noted that, as minority leader, he returned a surplus of legislative budget funds to the county year after year — and he will do the same this year as presiding officer, he said.

“My belief is that the legislators and the leadership of the Nassau County Legislature are woefully undercompensated,” he said. “However, now is not the time, and I am not immune to the plight of my Nassau County neighbors, friends and businesses in this economy.”

Minority Leader Diane Yatauro, a Democrat from Glen Cove, was skeptical of Schmitt's explanation. “Most of these reasons were well known facts last Monday, yet he still pushed through the raises,” Yatauro said. “If Peter changed his mind on giving himself a huge raise, it is because he has heard from his constituents that this move was totally unacceptable. The very fact that he did this will linger in the public memory for a long time.”