Nonprofit execs say county caps on salaries would impact communities

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The Suffolk County Legislature is considering a bill that would bar the county from funding nonprofit agencies (excluding nonprofit hospitals) whose employees exceed an annual salary of $250,000–the current salary of New York Governor Kathy Hochul.

With the legislature poised to vote on Res. No. 1687-2024 at its Dec. 17 meeting,  Legislator Trish Bergin (R-East Islip), who co-sponsored the bill with Legislator Rob Trotta (R-Fort Salonga), noted that some nonprofit executives whose organizations contract with the county are making as much as $400,000 while they work to feed the hungry.

“I find that offensive, quite honestly,” said Bergin. She pointed out that “it doesn’t seem right that a school bus driver who’s just barely hanging on supporting her family,” who “seeks out these nonprofits for clothing and food” while “the person who’s handing her the boxes of food is making $400,000 a year, and the lady driving the school bus is paying her tax bill.” She added that this “money is going to fund that individual’s salary. It just sounds absolutely ludicrous to me.”

Regulating not-for-profit organizations’ operations and salaries does not fall under the purview of the Suffolk County Legislature, notes Jeffrey Reynolds, CEO of Family & Children’s Association (FCA), one of Long Island’s oldest and largest nonprofits that runs 50 different programs for 35,000 people a year.

“That’s left to the New York State Attorney General, the federal Internal Revenue Service and the boards of directors of those organizations who have been duly elected,” said Reynolds.

Both Trotta and Bergin have made it clear that the legislation would not save taxpayers any money, Reynolds said.

“Perhaps those legislators, and the rest of the legislature, should be focused on saving taxpayer dollars versus micromanaging not-for-profit organizations that are already very, very heavily regulated,” Reynolds said.

Suffolk County contracts are already highly controlled to ensure that administrative costs are kept to a minimum. Executive salaries are not part of the contracts, he added.

“This bill goes into staff that are not covered by a county contract, and therefore doesn’t necessarily save the taxpayers any money,” Reynolds said.

He also pointed out that Gov. Hochul’s $250,000 salary does not include the many other perks of her position, which include housing, helicopters, drivers and a security detail.

“It’s a poorly written bill,” Reynolds said. “It’s bad policy, and it’s a bad solution looking to save a problem that doesn’t exist.”

As businesses that drive economic development, nonprofits have enjoyed a solid working relationship with the county, so the proposed legislation seemed very arbitrary, said Neela Mukherjee Lockel, CEO of EAC, which provides services to children and adults through its 100-plus programs.

Nonprofits are already underfunded, notes Lockel.

“Our contracts do not cover the costs of doing business,” said Lockel, adding that fundraising helps fill in the financial gaps. “We are providing services that the county cannot afford to provide, but that the communities desperately need.”

Nonprofits need to hire experienced and talented professionals to do the work:  executives who have dedicated their lives to service, running large businesses that provide vital services to the county.

“If you want to attract, hire and retain good, experienced executives you have to pay for that,” Lockel said. “We are running multifaceted businesses and to try to limit or cap or steer them in a certain way is not going to provide our communities with the kind of leadership and service that we need to take care of our neighbors.”

The proposed legislation is not about any one of the individual nonprofit executives who operate complex, multipronged agencies; manage multiple contracts; and navigate policies and regulations with different jurisdictions: It’s about the sustainability of the organizations, said Lockel.

“If I’m not in this job, when you go hire somebody else, you are probably going to have to pay more,” Lockel said. “That is the market. It’s not realistic.”

For her part, Legislator Bergin said she expects the bill to pass handily.

If it does, and Suffolk County cuts contracts with agencies that do not comply, Lockel predicts that communities will suffer.

Singling out nonprofits in this legislation, especially considering they are already known as an underpaid sector, doesn’t make sense to Lockel.

“By all accounts, there’s not a survey you will look at that will say that nonprofits are–forget highly paid–a fairly paid industry,” she said. “It feels meanspirited and it’s such a huge distraction, and it’s an insult to the community to say that they don’t deserve experienced, smart, educated and resourceful people to help get them the services that they need.”

Lockel herself sits on organization boards, volunteers and does community service.

“This is my day job. This is how I live on Long Island,” Lockel said, adding, “It’s apples and oranges to be talking about how we’re supposed to be doing this out of the goodness of our hearts.”