A Day Late And A Dollar Short!

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To the editor: Frank Castiglia

Many of us have heard the above saying many times.

Well this past week the Oswego county Legislature was more than a day late and dollar short.

They were almost a year late and a ton of money short.

The legislature authorized a $2500 stipend for all county workers that hadn’t previously received one. This past Thursday.

During discussions a comment was made, “the wheels of government move slow”.

That is true unless it is something the Government wants.

For the past almost two years members of the County DSS workers have been pleading for a fair wage.

For the past year they have pointed out the fact that a certain group received a stipend, but they hadn’t.

They also pointed out that the County Legislature was voting themselves a 6% raise for the 7^th time in as many years.

The Legislature(some of them) were listening during the pleads by the DSS workers, but their actions show the ones that were listening only heard half of the needs of the workforce.

In the 2024 budget the legislature voted to give Department heads a 6% raise. Giving the head of DSS a $6,000 raise. Giving other elected officials a 6% raise also.

So I don’t see how the “Wheels of Gov’t moved slowly”

The stipend is nice and will help pay the underpaid county workers this year. However next year they will still be underpaid and trying to make ends meet but not the Dept. heads or the Elected officials.

In the Oswego County workforce there are many groups that are underpaid compared to adjacent counties. Just to name a few, E=911employees, Probation employees, Board of elections employees and DSS workers.

There are more but these are the only ones that have reached out to me.

Many employees will not come forward in public to express their feelings about an unjust pay situation for fear of being fired. The Department heads won’t speak out for their employees for fear of being fired.

Remember how this group of Legislators voted to give out raises to themselves and a select few when you vote this November.

Legislator Frank Castiglia Jr.

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