WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP - The chairman of the Municipal Authority of Washington Township said Tuesday that results of a payroll investigation could be made public at the board's meeting next month. At its January meeting, the board announced it hired attorney Timothy Maatta, of Monessen, to conduct the investigation amidst rumors office manager Judy Arrow and clerk Laura Snyder received excessive overtime pay last year. Arrow also is a member of the authority board. Last night, resident Bob Campbell referred to base salary raises for both employees. According to authority records provided from the office staff to The Valley Independent, Arrow made $44,424.10 in base salary in 2006 and $35,188.05 in 2005. Clerk Laura Snyder received $34,478.54 in salary for 2006 and $27,952.33 in 2005. From 2005 to 2006, Arrow's base salary increased $9,236.05. Snyder's increased $6,526.21, according to the records. However, Campbell said minutes from the June meeting indicated the board approved much smaller raises. Reading from the minutes, Campbell said the board approved a $2.50 an hour raise for Arrow and a $1 an hour raise for Snyder. Campbell said the raises took effect July 1. For the remaining hours worked that year, Arrow would have received only $2,275 in additional salary and Snyder would have made $910 from the raise, Campbell claimed. "Can you tell me how this took place?" Campbell asked of the base pay salary Arrow and Snyder received beyond the approved raises. "That is being investigated right now," board Chairman Melvin Weiss said. "Township code states that every six months that you people have got to send notification of every employee, how much they make and their title, over to the township," Campbell said. "So, you can't use the excuse that you don't know what they made." "There is more to it than that," board member Selma Russell said. Resident Chuck Yetsconish claimed the board is "hiding behind a so-called investigation." "How much longer are we going to have to go through this?" Yetsconish said. "Everybody here knows what you've done wrong. You've all got egg on your face, but you can't see it because you're not looking in the mirror." Weiss said he and his board colleagues would address the public when the investigation is complete. "A personnel issue is not permitted to be discussed," he said. "It will be taken care of." Arrow did not attend the meeting. Weiss said she was ill. In an unrelated matter, the board adopted its 2007 budget. The spending plan showed $1,285,000 in revenue and $1,213,560 in expenditures. Major revenue listed included $665,000 in domestic metered sales and $535,000 in industrial metered sales. Major expenses included $205,400 in water distribution costs; $125,700 for purification and lab costs; $121,000 for management and operator payroll; $90,000 in administrative wages; $85,000 for plant operator payroll; $72,000 in utility costs and $63,000 in supplies for the water pumping system. A $350,000 project designed to automate the water treatment plant and pump station is planned, along with $90,000 in water line replacement projects. The budget shows $231,600 in debt service payments for the year from outstanding loans.

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