Difficult budget negotiations resulted in a 2019 budget for the Town of Lloyd that’s within the tax cap — two percent this year — but some of what was done to get there has the supervisor, Paul Hansut, as steamed as a garment in the dry cleaner’s business he once owned in town. The unexpended fund balance, which serves as a rainy-day fund for the town, is getting cut to 5% of the total. Cuts to salaries of elected officials will see the supervisor pulling in $24,000 in 2019; the national median wage for a full-time assistant manager at Burger King, by comparison, is $32,000 according to information on the site glassdoor.com.
Reached for comment after the meeting, Hansut said that he disagrees with a philosophy of cutting the fund balance and borrowing if an emergency arises. State law allows for a “reasonable amount” of money to be retained from one year to the next. A larger amount makes pay for the unexpected water main break or other emergency something that won’t incur borrowing costs, but if it climbs too high, it can become a political issue if residents feel they are being unjustly overtaxed.
The supervisor does feel that his own pay cut was a political decision. He is in the minority party on the town council, and his suggestion to cut all board member salaries by $2,000 was viewed as unfair from a percentage standpoint. He said he takes exception to the level of pay for a job which takes more than 30 hours any given week, and wonders who might wish to run for the position at that rate of pay. ++
Join the family! 
