Mount Vernon City Council President Karen Watts is under investigation by the state Labor Department for receiving unemployment insurance while earning a salary, according to a source familiar with the probe.

Watts makes $36,500 as a City Council president, a position she has held since January, and also has a $50,000-a-year pension as a retired Mount Vernon city recreation commissioner. She was elected to the council in November 2009.

A Labor Department spokesman would not comment on any investigation involving Watts.