MapleChimes

MapleChimes OP t1_j40w45b wrote

Reply to comment by rockmasterflex in Critics say NJ mayor wants 647% pay raise to pad his pension for life by MapleChimes

Yes, thank you. There's a petition going around online for the people of this town to sign to make this a referendum question on the ballot for the next mayor election. However, no notice was given about this publicly. One council member posted about it on Facebook which got shared to a town Facebook page I follow, then it showed up in some local news like News12. I'm sure most people in town have no idea about this last minute change. The council votes in less than 1 week. Stinks of some back room private deal.

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MapleChimes OP t1_j3xc98c wrote

Reply to comment by Bro-Science in Critics say NJ mayor wants 647% pay raise to pad his pension for life by MapleChimes

The timing, lack of transparency, and hastiness at which it's being done is what makes it suspicious. I don't think it's dumb to compare the salaries of mayors in other towns. This definitely puts him at the high end. Given that the 2 people who run the daily administrative work of the town are keeping their jobs, I don't see how this changes what he currently does part-time. Therefore, I see no justification for this sudden change. I think voters should get a say.

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MapleChimes OP t1_j3wz07z wrote

Reply to comment by Ecstatic-Passage-113 in Critics say NJ mayor wants 647% pay raise to pad his pension for life by MapleChimes

If the town council votes yes on this on the 18th then yes. I have no problem with the town needing a full-time mayor but this isn't the way to go about it. The voters should vote for who should be a full time mayor in the next election. I think it's obvious he's looking for a big pension and health benefits (at tax payer's expense) for his retirement for only doing a part-time job.

And no matter who is mayor next, I think a salary of 140k is too much in comparison to what mayors in some of NJ's largest towns make. Wayne mayor doesn't need to make more money than the mayor of Paterson which has 3 times more people. There are also 2 people working full-time doing the daily administrative work already so there doesn't seem to be any justification for this last minute change other than money.

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MapleChimes OP t1_j3w2tih wrote

Reply to comment by Batumi19 in Critics say NJ mayor wants 647% pay raise to pad his pension for life by MapleChimes

It should be left up to the voters to elect a full-time mayor in the next election. Not some last minute deal to get a 5k monthly pension and health benefits for doing a part-time job. He only has 3 years left in his term. When he was re-elected he knew it was a part-time job. But all he needs is 3 years to get that big lifetime payout at the end. This is just a last minute money grab for his retirement. It's for him, not the town. And a 140k salary is absurd compared to mayors in much larger towns.

Edit: He also is not being transparent about what responsibilities he'd be taking on that he didn't do in the past. He says he wants to bring businesses in, but there is a separate committee for that so what have they been doing...

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MapleChimes OP t1_j3w05vo wrote

Reply to Critics say NJ mayor wants 647% pay raise to pad his pension for life by MapleChimes

Some local corruption: Wayne, NJ

With only 3 years left in Vergano's 4th term as mayor and after doing the job part-time for about 15 years, the mayor of Wayne is now looking to make his job full-time despite already having a full-time administration that runs the office on a daily basis.

He now wants to make a 140k salary, more than mayors in some of NJ's largest towns like Paterson and Jersey City make. Interesting timing as he is about to retire from his actual full-time job and the pension for retirement and access to health insurance as a public servant is only based off of the last 3 years. He is clearly just looking to retire with a large pension and health benefits at the tax payer's expense for doing what is only a part-time job.

His handling of affordable housing was terrible. He refused to build any, comparing them to places that only belong in Camden. That was until he was hit with a lawsuit. Now developers are taking advantage of that by building a large amount of luxury apartments with the bare minimum of affordable housing. The strip malls are run down with many empty businesses. And now he wants a significant raise?! 🙄 With a mostly republican town council, he unfortunately will get what he wants. 😡

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