2007 a great year for
N.J. double-dippers
By JAMES PRADO
ROBERTS, and RICK MALWITZ, thnt.com Online, April 14, 2008
The ranks of highly-paid
double-dippers — government employees with two or more public jobs that paid a
combined total of more than $100,000 — swelled by 20 percent last year, despite
calls to end the practice, Gannett New Jersey has found.
A review of pension enrollment data found that the rank of double-dippers making
more than a combined $100,000 rose 20 percent from 2006 to 2007, for a total of
853 last year, according to public records of persons enrolled in the state's
largest public employees retirement fund.
Those same multiple job holders had a collective salary of $107.8 million, also
up 20 percent from 2006. They held an average of 2.8 jobs and had an average pay
of $126,000 in 2007.
There were 6,271 multiple job holders — including one woman with 12 government
jobs — pulling down $354 million in salaries.
Although the total number of the 464,000 government jobs — municipal, county,
state, school, police and fire department — held steady from 2006 to 2007.
The total base salaries rose 3.7 percent to $22.8 billion — equal to nearly half
of all state and local tax money collected last year.
To view salaries for all employees, and a searchable list of multiple-job
holders, visit http://www.DataUnivese.com and click on "What's New."
DataUniverse is Gannett New Jersey's public records site on the Internet.
Gannett New Jersey has found numerous examples over the years of independent
contractors, mostly lawyers, receiving far better government pension benefits
than full-time government employees.
By cobbling together multiple part-time posts, some double-dippers can amass an
annual public salary that eclipses that of the governor. And with higher
salaries come higher pensions payments upon retirement.
Damian G. Murray is the highest paid multiple-job holder in the state last year,
according to pension records. He also keeps a private law office. A municipal
court judge for eight Ocean County municipalities, his total taxpayer-funded pay
was $301,826.
The Chief Justice of the United States is paid $212,100.
When Murray, 59, retires from government service, his final pension will be
based on average of his highest three salaries. That could qualify him for a
pension of about $150,000 a year, according to the pension payment formula.
Murray did not return calls for comment, but he has said in the past that he
works around the clock, and is always on call to set bail for suspects and
review warrants.
One multiple job-holder, Jerome Convery, had two government jobs that each paid
more than $100,000. He serves as township attorney in Old Bridge and Planning
Board attorney in Monroe, for combined salaries of $230,538.
In the two municipalities where Convery serves, the mayors also had two
government jobs in 2007.
Monroe Mayor Richard Pucci earned a combined $193,660, serving as mayor and
executive director of the Middlesex County Improvement Authority.
Old Bridge Mayor James Phillips earned a combined $156,253, serving as mayor and
Middlesex County treasurer. He also did part-time work with the MCIA in his role
as county treasurer.
Phillips, who began his public service career in 1977 as an auditor in the state
Division of Taxation earning $10,000, allowed how he made the list of government
employees with two paychecks because he was elected mayor of Old Bridge five
years ago.
Phillips said holding one government job, "Should not preclude me from running
for mayor."
The position of mayor pays $15,000 annually. Considering the hours he puts into
that part-time job, Phillips said, "I could make more money working in a
convenience store."
In addition to his salary as mayor, he earns $114,253 as the county treasurer,
and $27,000 for work he does with the MCIA in his role as county treasurer.
Pucci, who has been working in the government for 31 years, became mayor in
1998. "I was never thinking of a pension when I ran for mayor," said Pucci, who
considers his position with the MCIA as his day job, and the job as mayor as his
evenings and weekends job.
"From my standpoint the authority is what I do for a living," said Pucci, who
earns $166,404 with the MCIA and $27,256 as mayor.
In most New Jersey municipalities the job of mayor is a part-time position. If a
mayor's day job is in the private sector their income does not have to be made
public.
Phillips and Pucci vouched for the work done by Convery. He earned $109,998 in
Old Bridge in 2007, and $120,540 in Monroe. Convery, who was on vacation last
week and unavailable for comment, also does private practice work.
"His work product in Monroe is excellent," said Pucci.
Phillips noted how the $100,000 salary level is, "One that gets noticed. But,
top law firms today are paying associates coming out of law school $100,000 or
better."
Double dipping is a practice that is increasingly drawing the attention of state
lawmakers.
"That's ridiculous — it really is," said state Sen. Stephen M. Sweeney,
D-Gloucester, of Murray's eight part-time jobs. "Honestly, it's a way of getting
away with pensions for part-time employees. We need to look at is it really
right for part-time workers to be in the pension system?"
Sweeney, the Senate majority leader, said he believes that lawmakers this year
will closely examine government employee pay and benefits.
"I think you are going to see a lot of legislators starting to step forward and
talking about this kind of stuff," Sweeney said.
"It's a much more crowded platform of people who want to talk about this,
Republicans and Democrats."
Gov. Corzine has cut state workers by 2,000 since taking office in 2006, and he
wants to reduce the 68,000 state workers by additional 3,000 in his proposed
2009 budget.
In February, Corzine asked members of the public to submit ideas on how to cut
the cost of state government. But, based on the responses of more than 1,500 who
e-mailed the governor, the public feels he hasn't gone far enough. Many wrote
that they felt government pay and benefits remain excessive.
"Most importantly . . . CUT, CUT, CUT, CUT GOVERNMENT SPENDING AND THE DOUBLE &
TRIPLE DIPPING OF PENSIONS!!" wrote Matthew J. Guiro, a 35-year-old mortgage
banker from Brick.
In Stafford, one of the eight municipalities where Judge Murray presides,
Murray's contract requires him to hold court a minimum of 43 days a year. At a
2007 salary of $41,728, that's just under $1,000 a day.
"I can see people saying, can you hold eight part-time jobs?" asked Carl W.
Block, himself a multiple job holder as Stafford mayor and Ocean County clerk.
"That's a fair point, and Damian is going to have to answer that question," said
Block.
Gerard J. Meara, executive director of the AFSCME Council 73, which represents
11,000 state and local union workers in New Jersey, said he opposed judges and
others who accrue such high pensions based on many part-time jobs.
"That type of person really isn't an employee; they jump from one municipality
to the other," he said. "With the pension being under-funded, as it is, any
negative impact such as that is a concern to our members."
The government employee with the most jobs in the pension systems is Mary E.
Bakey, who held a dozen positions with school boards in Camden and Burlington
counties last year.
Richard Sasso made a combined $200,188 in 2007, serving as municipal court judge
in Watchung, Bound Brook, Bridgewater and Warren. Sasso, who retired in January,
considered none of the jobs part-time.
"With regard to each municipality where you sit as judge it's a 24/7 job. I
can't remember celebrating a holiday without being deluged with phone calls,
when there were spikes in the crime rate and domestic violence," said Sasso.
Often, he said, he spent sleepless overnight hours waiting for a court order to
be faxed, seeking his signature.
In addition to serving the four towns, the combined court system of Somerset,
Hunterdon and Warren, known as a vicinage, requires that judges take calls as
part of a 24-hour network. He estimates he ruled on 30,000 cases a year.
The workload, said Sasso, "Was balanced by my compensation."
Two months after he left the bench Sasso was charged with judicial misconduct.
The charges included being under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol while on
the bench and disorderly conduct at Torpedo's Go-Go Bar in Bound Brook.
The charges were filed in a formal complaint on March 13 by the state Supreme
Court's Advisory Committee on Judicial Conduct.
It was also alleged that Sasso violated state rules by serving as attorney for
the Watchung Volunteer Fire Company while also serving as Watchung municipal
court judge.
A rule prohibits municipal court judges from acting as the attorney for any
agency of the municipality.
Rick Malwitz: (732) 565-7291,
Rmalwitz@thnt.com
Posted 4-13-08
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