The Harrietstown Town Council is now dealing with the fallout of its decision to cut a proposed $20,000 pay raise for Supervisor Jordanna Mallach from its 2024 budget. No matter where lawmakers choose to place blame, this fallout could’ve been avoided if the council had taken more time to lay out solid plans.

Seeing a dire need for more help at the town-owned Lake Clear Airport, Mallach suggested that she take on the responsibilities of two additional roles — alternate security coordinator and emergency responder — with additional pay. This $20,000 raise would’ve nearly doubled the supervisor’s current salary. To justify the change, Mallach pointed to an estimate of what paying for a standalone assistant manager for the airport would cost: around $89,000, including benefits. Though her pay would increase by 99%, the town would still be saving money, Mallach reasoned.

It should have come as no surprise that residents would show up to the council’s board meetings to decry the proposed raise ahead of the council’s budget vote. Some councilors blamed inaccurate figures tied to the raise initially reported in this newspaper for the public opposition, arguing that if the Enterprise had reported the correct figures from the start, no one would be upset. This argument ignores the very real fact that last year, when Mallach proposed an identical pay raise, residents were in opposition of it then, too. It also ignores the fact that for many of those who opposed the raise, the dollar amount was not the issue. There are many residents in Harrietstown just who do not agree that this raise should happen.

Supporters of Mallach’s raise say that other supervisors are paid more. That’s true, but it’s an apples-to-oranges comparison in one big regard. In neighboring Essex County, town supervisors also serve as representatives on the Essex County Board of Supervisors. These are full-time positions and paid as such. Being in Franklin County, Harrietstown’s supervisor does not have these same responsibilities, and it’s been a part-time job for many years. Tupper Lake’s supervisor, for example, is paid $16,000 — less than Mallach.

Supporters also say that Mallach is underpaid considering her accomplishments and the savings she has brought to the town through finding grants and other measures. But would Mallach not have less time to devote to continue finding savings for the town if she were to take on more duties at the airport?

Last year, on this editorial page, we wrote the following.

“Does Mallach deserve to be paid for the hours she works? And would making the supervisor role full-time make the job more attractive to a wider range of candidates in the future, some of whom may not have the ability to take on a part-time job in addition to their other responsibilities? We think the answer to both of those questions is yes. But those aren’t the central questions here. The questions here are whether Harrietstown residents want a full-time town supervisor or a part-time one, and whether the town actually needs a full-time supervisor. The answers to those questions are less clear.”

The town council needs to seriously consider whether or not the town needs a full-time supervisor, full stop. Once that question is answered, the town needs to consider not only the current needs of the airport, but what the town hopes it will look like years from now. Having the answers to these questions will help town councilors as they review the town’s budgets moving forward, and with long-term planning.

If Mallach were to have taken on additional duties at the airport, it would’ve been a short-term solution, but it would’ve saved taxpayers money. Airport Manager Corey Hurwitch has said that there has been a “tremendous” increase in the workload at the airport, primarily because of $8.5 million terminal building renovations and a PFAS investigation, lawsuit and compliance issue, an issue the town has never dealt with before. This is work that could continue beyond Mallach’s tenure, and if the town envisions a future for the airport that would expand its current operations, in the long run, the town may need to hire someone new anyway.

The reality the town is now facing in the short-term — with Councilor Johnny Williams volunteering his time to fill the need for an alternate security coordinator at the airport — is not ideal. This, too, is a short-term solution. Williams deserves a lot of credit for doing this, considering he is a businessowner and a father, in addition to his other responsibilities.

While the town councilors made the right call in rejecting the raise for now — as they seek to answer some unanswered questions and pull together things like a job description — it should not have come to this. The council has been aware of all of the factors involved in this decision for some time. Mallach’s plan may have been the best short-term solution for Harrietstown for now, as long as there was a provision attached clarifying that it is a temporary stipend tied to the airport work. But the council must look ahead. All the noise aside, there’s one question that’s most important here: At Lake Clear Airport, what’s coming next?