Mark Palesh's proposed budget for the 2008-09 fiscal year had already ruffled some feathers a day after it was presented to the Auburn City Council.

The Auburn Civil Service Commission is not happy with the city manager's proposal to eliminate funding for the commission secretary. If approved, the cut will make it difficult to keep the secretary position at all, according to commission chairman Robert Welch.

“We're quite upset about it,” Welch said Friday. “There is absolutely no reason to do this. I don't understand it.”

The secretary position is currently held by William Fulton, who was appointed by the commission less than two years ago. Fulton runs the office with the full-time clerk, helping to schedule the civil service tests and organize the day-to-day operations, Welch said.

This is the most recent of numerous disagreements between the city and the commission in the past year. Last month, the commissioners did not approve the city's request to hire fully-trained police officers and firefighters from outside departments.

Palesh claimed the lateral transfers would save the city hundreds of thousands of dollars in overtime costs. But the commission reasoned that the city should hire from the local candidates who took the civil service exams.

In November, Cayuga County voters turned down a referendum to eliminate the commission altogether and transfer its function to a personnel officer.

Welch said the state mandates that the Civil Service Commission appoint a secretary. If the budget passes intact, it will not abolish the position. It will just mean that the secretary would no longer make $6,143 a year, which is a “fraction” of a percent of the city budget, Welch said.

“No one in their right mind would do that work for the money he gets now,” said Welch, who added that the secretary job has always been funded by the city. “I don't know if it is personal or what, but it is a slap in the face to the work he does.”

Palesh said Friday that the proposal is not personal, but is simply a cost-saving measure. The civil service clerk and the newly created human resources director make the secretary's position redundant, he said.

“This is no reflection on (Fulton), who I think has done a great job,” Palesh said. “I think it is necessary that this happens so we can get on with things.”

Palesh added that he no longer has any intention of eliminating the commission while he is city manager. The public declined to go along with his idea in the last election.

“We're going to have to live with what we have,” Palesh said.

Welch said Monday that the commission will definitely argue in front of city council against taking away the secretary's salary, and commissioners are “checking out” other options.

“We're going to have to react to it,” he said.

Fulton did not return phone messages Friday for comment.

Staff writer Christopher Caskey can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 282 or christopher.caskey@lee.net.