Letters

At our April 20 Board of Trustees meeting, I asked the four Southampton Village trustees to pass a resolution eliminating lifetime benefits, which vest after five years, for current and future part-time elected officials [“Southampton Village Board Debates Lifelong Benefits for Trustees and Mayors; Board Votes, 4-1, To Remove Attorney From Ethics Board Post,” 27east.com, April 26]. The village trustees refused to vote on this very simple concept and stated that they needed further study to understand the financial implications. They also suggested trading an increase in compensation and/or an increase in term length in exchange for giving up their potential benefits for life.

At our May 11 meeting, the chairman of the Budget and Finance Committee and the Planning Commission presented their study, and the results were as expected: Taxpayer-funded benefits for life are expensive. In fact, according to the study, lifetime benefits for the full five-member board could cost up to $6.7 million, with $1.7 million associated to the four trustees. It turned out that the study’s projections were even higher and more costly than my initial conservative analysis.

A compensation study was also conducted. Of all the villages surveyed, Southampton Village trustees were the highest paid. The study also showed that I was the second-lowest paid mayor, with the highest-paid mayor surveyed earning 400 percent more, at $109,000.

I became mayor in order to volunteer to serve the community that I love — to bring vibrancy to the village’s downtown, to improve water quality, to help preserve the village’s character, and to make everyday people’s lives better.

I hope to start a family soon, and I would like the village to be a better place in the future. I do not need or want to take benefits from the village when I am no longer serving, nor am I looking for a raise or a longer term. I am simply looking to make Southampton a better place, and I have been willing to put myself out there to do it.

It is time that the village trustees vote to end lifetime benefits for themselves and future elected officials. It’s fiscally responsible and demonstrates that we are serving the public, not ourselves.

At our next board meeting, I will be adding a resolution which will eliminate lifetime benefits for current and future part-time elected officials. I urge the trustees to finally agree to it.

Perhaps three times is a charm.

Jesse Warren

Mayor

Southampton Village