Scott Vanderhoef's $17k Pay Raise

Scott Vanderhoef gave himself a fat $17,000 pay raise after the Rockland County budget was presented to the public and approved by the legislature. (Source: The Journal News):

Rockland County Executive C. Scott Vanderhoef will see a $17,322 raise in 2010 after a 12-5 vote Tuesday by the county Legislature to retroactively increase his pay.

It appeared Monday that Vanderhoef could receive a $5,500 raise, a 4 percent increase to his current $137,765 salary, which has remained unchanged since 2007.

Legislators voted to grant that 4 percent increase, but they also voted to grant Vanderhoef retroactive pay increases of about 2 percent every six months since Jan. 1, 2008.

What's worse, Vanderhoef's outlandish pay raise was not run through proper channels, but was instead snuck into the county budget behind the backs of the taxpaying public.

The motion to increase Vanderhoef’s pay was not brought up in a committee meeting, where deeper discussion could have taken place, but was instead included on the agenda of the last full regular Legislature meeting for 2009.

Since taking office, Vanderhoef raised his pay 61%.