Joseph Snyder retired as New Paltz police chief on April 25. New police chief Robert Lucchesi isn’t even going to get an immediate raise from his lieutenant’s salary through the end of the year, by his own request. What’s more, he’s asked that the 20% he must pay toward his health insurance premiums be increased to 25% in 2021.
According to information available at seethroughny.net, the recently-retired Snyder was paid $134,101 as chief during 2019. During that same period, then-lieutenant Lucchesi was paid $105,344.
Health insurance is one of the biggest expense drivers in a budget that, pre-pandemic, resulted in a tax-levy hike of 6.67% over the 2019 spending plan. Supervisor Neil Bettez said during the budget hearing in November that the town contribution in 2019 had increased $81,000 over the previous year; he also noted that the police contract had been moved to arbitration largely because town officials are looking for officers to pony up more for their own health care.
The fiscal situation has likely changed for the worse since a pandemic came to town, and Bettez confirmed that the new chief offered to delay his raise and increase his own contributions out of an awareness that this is an unprecedented situation. Town revenues mostly come from property taxes, and it’s unclear what percentage of taxes will be paid timely. Many building owners in New Paltz depend on rental income to get that money together, even as many renters and owners alike find themselves with sharply reduced income themselves. Mortgagees have the right to pay taxes to ensure that their own interest isn’t lost to a tax foreclosure, but that’s not a guarantee it will happen on time, or even at all.
Doubtless, local officials will be watching federal discussions over aid to local governments closely in the coming weeks.
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