At the Town Board meeting on February 11, Republican Town Board member David Byrne made the ridiculous assertion that the proposed $20 an hour for an experienced wetlands professional was appropriate. His reasoning was that a wetlands professional job paying around $35,000 a year was advertised in Portland, Oregon. By his reckoning, that worked out to $20 an hour. Wrong! The base pay for any employee is less than half  of what it truly costs the employer once little details like FICA, benefits, vacation pay, retirement, training, overhead, and everything else are factored in. David Byrne surely knows that it costs the U.S. Army considerably more per soldier than that soldier receives in pay. And surely Republican Town Supervisor Dick Barrett knows the true cost of an employee, given his experience on the Red Hook School Board. Why not admit the truth? The Republican Town Board members want to gut the wetlands protection law by refusing to authorize an appropriate pay rate for the wetlands professional.

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