As reported in Newsday last week, Babylon Village approved over $190,000 in annual raises for 23 of its non-union staff in June of 2016 without a public vote or hearing and without including them in the budget. Those raises were less than half of the amount of compensation increase for Village employees. The total of raises given to union and non-union employees was nearly $440,000.

The budget passed by the Village in 2016 forecast an increase of just under $79,000 for the coming year.

When Mayor Scordino was asked about the undisclosed pay raises, he replied, “This is the way we’ve always done it,”

Of the fifty Village employees whose pay was increased, 33 received raises of $9320 a year. 14 received $8280. 2 were given $7320 and one received a bump of $1000. For some lower paid workers, this resulted in a percentage increase in their base pay of over 40%. The list of 2016 Babylon Village raises is available here and the 2015 Babylon Village payroll is here.

The union and nonunion pay increases are included in Babylon’s 2017-18 budget, which shows a more than 20 percent growth in full-time salaries and a roughly $3.6 million total payroll. To pay for the higher salaries and benefits in the coming fiscal year, which begins June 1, the village will increase the amount it draws from its fund balance, although the Mayor admitted that eventually, “We’ll probably have to raise taxes”

Mayor Scordino spoke with News 12 about the issue and claimed that the raises were due in part to compliance with the American Care Act as well as to keep Babylon Village salaries competitive.

An article this week in Newsday by Joye Brown noted that Suffolk County awarded average 6.2 percent raises to nonunion workers last year.