The Hoboken Tax Reform Coalition
Clinton Township Officials Will Vote to Halve Their Salaries
Clinton Township officials will vote to halve their Salaries
Published: Wednesday, July 28, 2010, 6:41 AM Updated: Wednesday, July 28, 2010, 4:53 PM CLINTON TOWNSHIP — Calling it the right thing to do during tight fiscal times, Clinton Township politicians have proposed cutting their own salaries in half this year.The township’s mayor and four council members plan to vote on the 50-percent pay cut at tonight’s meeting.
“It really is the responsible thing to do,” council president Dawn Apgar said. Non-unionized township employees including the clerk, chief financial officer and police director are not receiving raises this year, and the police officers are giving back $150,000 to the town, Apgar said. Additionally, the Department of Public Works is not filling a vacancy. “So it only seemed fit for the council that we would also bear the burden of tough economic times,” she said. “We were looking at ways to cut costs.”
Council members earn $5,530 a year for the part-time job, while the mayor earns $6,474. Their compensation goes toward cell phone bills, gasoline, printer cartridges and other costs incurred on the job. All have other full-time jobs except for councilman Spencer Peck, who is retired. Although none of them receives health benefits, they do participate in the state pension plan.According to chief financial officer Kitty Colognato, the halved salaries would be in effect for the last six months of the year and not applied retroactively.
Mayor Kevin Cimei said that while the council has the power to set salaries of non-contractual employees every year, the 50-percent pay cut is not intended to last just six months. “I view it as a new baseline,” Cimei said. “I don’t know what the rest of the council thinks, but I don’t see it as a temporary thing.” If approved by the council tonight, the salary cuts will save the town around $7,000 this year, Colognato said. “But in these difficult budget times, every little dollar helps,” Apgar said. “All of the big dollar amounts that can be cut, have been.”
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Permalink Reply by Jack Dawkins on -
Oh, sure - yeah...and maybe we, here in Hoboken, can get all of the developers to give back 1/2 of their profits.
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Permalink Reply by scott m siegel on
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FYI only Jack, Maybe if enough people cared we could get something back. Don't forget both the council and the directors took a 10% cut. Now if only your union buddies would follow suit we'd have real tax relief. How many developers are now bankrupt or hurting badly? I'll agree with you, probably not enough.
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Permalink Reply by Jack Dawkins on
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I agree that the high end brass should take a pay cut for the sake of their union brethren that are making under 50K - but that won't happen. I personally didn't agree with the council pay cut - but so be it. As far as the director's go....do I detect some "spin." No Scott, NONE of our Director's took a pay cut - the "job" took a pay cut - with the exception of Pelegrini, before being gainfully employed in our fare city, our other directors were just 3 more in the the long list of the unemployed (aside from Liston who's story I don't know) - what in god's name was the mayor thinking to pass out 6 figure salaries to the likes of the NJ Transit mouthpiece Sachs and the senior citizen hater, parks are meant to be playgrounds for kiddies only Maier.
scott m siegel said:FYI only Jack, Maybe if enough people cared we could get something back. Don't forget both the council and the directors took a 10% cut. Now if only your union buddies would follow suit we'd have real tax relief. How many developers are now bankrupt or hurting badly? I'll agree with you, probably not enough.
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I wouldn't touch anyone under $50,000 either. The directors pay was cut by 10% by the council. Dawn thinks its better to pay everyone the same. I agree with you that it should be a sliding scale, based on experience. I personally have been very impressed with Ian. I signed up for his corner car program which I think will be a smash hit. We get paid $100 per car. He's installing passive methods (low cost) to slow down traffic just a few blocks from me. He will soon enact a 3 unit mini-bus "hop" system that will cover most of Hoboken (the old crosstown bus is one of the 3). One bus will come from the seniors in return for use of it by the city (seniors ride free- not bad for a senior hater, huh?). The other will be acquired via a grant (costing us nothing) and swapped with the Ambulance Corp. The same department is being modernized with much more web access coming soon. A muni meter test program will soon be installed on Washington St. This will allow people to pay with a debit/credit card. No need for change. Easier to account for if you know what I mean. Also we have the option for congestion pricing which would give the city more income. Taxis are being monitored, with drivers suspended for improper behavior. Shortly we will be able to virtually hail a cab by texting a dispatcher for pickup. Enough for you?
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Permalink Reply by Dave Kaplan on
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There seems to be a lot of criticism for some reason directed at Sachs. Is there a specific reason for this? He seems to be an out of the box thinker who is willing to try new things, many of which seem like they will ultimately ease parking / traffic issues in Hoboken. They also seem organized (example, the free parking transponders that were tracked down in conjunction with the police).
What am I missing?
Jack Dawkins said:I agree that the high end brass should take a pay cut for the sake of their union brethren that are making under 50K - but that won't happen. I personally didn't agree with the council pay cut - but so be it. As far as the director's go....do I detect some "spin." No Scott, NONE of our Director's took a pay cut - the "job" took a pay cut - with the exception of Pelegrini, before being gainfully employed in our fare city, our other directors were just 3 more in the the long list of the unemployed (aside from Liston who's story I don't know) - what in god's name was the mayor thinking to pass out 6 figure salaries to the likes of the NJ Transit mouthpiece Sachs and the senior citizen hater, parks are meant to be playgrounds for kiddies only Maier.
scott m siegel said:FYI only Jack, Maybe if enough people cared we could get something back. Don't forget both the council and the directors took a 10% cut. Now if only your union buddies would follow suit we'd have real tax relief. How many developers are now bankrupt or hurting badly? I'll agree with you, probably not enough.
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