Politics & Government

Several Township Council Members to Receive Raises

After learning that he will receive a raise, Lower Saucon Township Council vice president Tom Maxfield announced Nov. 16 that he intends to donate his 2012 council salary to the township's Open Space Fund.

As a result of a little-known 1995 ordinance three Lower Saucon Township council members will receive raises in 2012, it was announced at council's Nov. 16 meeting.

The three members who will receive raises are council vice president Tom Maxfield, councilwoman Priscilla deLeon and incoming councilman David Willard, .

Salaries will increase for the other two members of Lower Saucon Township Council--whoever they are at the time--in January 2014.

Find out what's happening in Hellertown-Lower Sauconwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The two councilmen whose terms expire in two years are Ron Horiszny and president Glenn Kern.

The current council salary is $2,500 per year, but that will increase to $3,250 as of Jan. 1, 2012 for the three incoming council members because of Ordinance No. 95-9.

Find out what's happening in Hellertown-Lower Sauconwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

That ordinance, which became law in 1995 and is permitted under the second class township code, stipulated that if the township's population were to increase to more than 10,000 residents automatic raises would take effect.

According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the Lower Saucon Township population now exceeds 10,000 residents, which is why the raises are set to take effect, it was explained.

In the year 2000, the township's population was recorded at just under the required threshhold, with 9,884 residents counted by the Census.

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Maxfield, who said both the substantial population increase and current state of the economy would have been difficult to foresee 16 years ago, told council that he was uncomfortable accepting a 35 percent pay increase given the "rough economic times."

He said he considered asking for a repeal of the pay increase, but decided not to because he didn't want to affect the other council members' increases.

Maxfield then announced that he intends to donate his salary to the township's Open Space Fund, which helps fund the preservation of land in Lower Saucon Township.

The preservation program is largely financed by a that township voters approved extending for another five years via referendum Nov. 8. However, both Kern and Horiszny have made it a point to donate their salaries to it in recent years.

Lower Saucon Township councilwoman Sandra Yerger thanked Maxfield for donating his salary, calling it "a very generous gesture" and "very fitting, considering the economic times."


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