By Chris Jamele
Buffalo, NY – Amid the myriad problems that have dogged the Erie County Holding Center, including escaped prisoners and numerous suicides, Sheriff Timothy Howard is granting the jail's top cop a raise.
The ten thousand dollar increase will bump Robert Koch, Jr.'s annual salary to better than one hundred thousand dollars per year. Howard is awarding the raise without support from either County Executive Chris Collins or the County Legislature.
Howard defends the pay raise, claiming that it establishes a much needed separation between leadership and subordinates at the jail.