While governments in each of Great Neck’s nine villages are all made up of elected mayors and trustees, the compensation those officials receive varies widely.
In six villages – Kings Point, Great Neck Estates, Kensington, Saddle Rock, Russell Gardens and Thomaston – village board members serve without pay. In Great Neck’s other three villages, officials receive a range of salaries – from $1,800 for trustees in Lake Success to the $65,000 Great Neck Plaza mayor Jean Celender will earn in the upcoming fiscal year.
The villages that pay their officials include within their borders Great Neck’s commercial centers on Lakeview and Middle Neck roads, and in the cases of Great Neck and Great Neck Plaza, possess the highest populations in the peninsula.
Celendar, whose salary will jump from $40,000 last year to $65,000 because of her new status as a full-time mayor, said running her village means dealing with issues Great Neck’s quieter municipalities lack.
“We have a lot more complexity,” Celender said. “That’s not something that all the other villages have.”
Among the issues cited by Celender were working with the Village of Great Neck Plaza Business Improvement District – the only one on the peninsula – greater density, and ongoing projects to redo parking lots off of Middle Neck Road’s retail strip.
In addition to Celender, Village of Great Neck Plaza Deputy Mayor Ted Rosen is paid $12,500 and the other trustees take in $10,000.
Celender said the village also hosts cultural events, public art projects and is in the process of launching an affordable-housing initiative.
“We have the summer programs – a summer concert series that none of the other villages do,” she said.
The Plaza is the second most populous of Great Neck’s villages, with 6,707 residents as of the 2010 census. The Village of Great Neck had 9,989 people, and Kings Point, which does not pay its board, had 5,005 residents.
According to a 2007 Census Bureau study, the Plaza had 2,398 companies. The Village of Great Neck had 1,564, Lake Success had 961 and Kings Point had 854. The other villages were not listed.
Some nearby villages outside Great Neck also pay their elected officials. In 2012, East Hills Mayor Michael Koblenz was paid $60,526, North Hills mayor Marvin Natiss was paid $48,000 and New Hyde Park mayor Daniel Petriccio was paid $11,000, among others, according to the Empire Center for New York State Policy.
The Plaza’s mayors have been paid tens of thousands of dollars for decades, according to Celender.
“I do know that [Celender’s predecessor] Bob Rosegarten was around $60,000 when he left, and he served as full-time mayor,” Celender said.
Former Village of Great Neck Plaza Mayor Alan Gussack, who served from 1982 until his death in 1992, also worked full time as mayor for part of his term, Celender said.
“This village has recognized that there is a benefit to having a full time mayor for many years,” she said. “They’re not six-figure salaries here you’re talking about.”
Celender, who owns an urban planning business, said she had scaled back operations and cut staff to make the transition to being a full-time public official.
“It’s just taken more and more of my time, and looking at how do I manage being a full-time business owner and a mayor, it’s a challenging thing,” Celender said. “I couldn’t do both.”
Great Neck does have another full-time mayor – Robert Stern of Thomaston, who has served unpaid for 16 years.
Unlike Celender, Stern has been retired for his entire term.
“It’s a very sleepy village,” Stern said.
The Village of Great Neck has the second highest pay for its board. Mayor Ralph Kreitzman receives $10,000 per year, and the rest of the trustees are paid $4,800.
The compensation is justified by the village’s status as the village with the highest population and the wide range of properties within it, according to a statement from the Village of Great Neck.
The village includes a sewer plant, a BMW dealership on East Shore Road, office spaces, apartments and coops, a business district, schools, 14 temples and churches, a park district and single family homes, according to the statement.
Lake Success is the only other village to offer compensation to its board.
Village of Lake Success Mayor Ronald Cooper is paid 3,600, and the other trustees are paid $1,800.
Lake Success provided its salary figures but did not respond to a request for comment.
