Thomas Bryan and Mark Anderko will get 12 percent raises, making the chief the eighth highest paid police chief in the state.
EDISON -- The town's police chief is now among the top 10 highest-paid chiefs in the state after the township gave him a $24,000 pay hike.
Chief Thomas Bryan went from $194,644 in pay to $218,659 in December, according to township records. That puts him at eighth in the state among police chiefs, state records show; Edison is the fifth-largest town in the state by population, but has very little crime for its size.
Bryan's second in command, Deputy Chief Mark Anderko, went from $192,164 to $216,159. The raises are 12 percent in total, with four percent over each of the past three years. Some of those raises are retroactive. They haven't had raises in that time.
"The 4 percent (annual) number seemed to be the fair number to give," said Mayor Thomas Lankey, the public safety director. Lankey noted that other non-union employees, and some union employees, have also seen raises recently. "We're always look at what their peers are making, what the people they supervise are making."
Anderko, the current deputy chief, is now out on major illness. And although the town declined to say whether he was soon to retire, several officers said that a going-away party was recently held for him. Anderko's raise would mean thousands of extra dollars in pension payments during his retirement.
"I think the department is running really well right now," Lankey said in explaining the raises. Lankey acknowledged that Edison's police have been in the news lately -- for example, the "lingerie episode" continues to make headlines -- but noted that much if not all of that predates his tenure, which began in 2014.
The move is part of broader changes afoot in the department. Lankey recently elevated a lieutenant -- the brother of a former chief -- to deputy chief, skipping over the rank of captain and the test that goes along with it.
Anderko and Bryan did not respond to requests for comment. Lankey said he was unaware of Anderko's career plans.
Other non-union employees recently saw 2 percent annual bumps, Lankey said, half the raises that Bryan and Anderko received.
In a town that saw a 9 percent tax hike two years ago and a 3 percent tax hike the year after, the raises are likely to receive some push back -- and the police unions negotiating now-expired contracts are likely to bring them up as the two sides hammer out a deal over their own pay.
"The taxpayer is going to have to pay again," former councilman Wayne Mascola said in an interview with NJ Advance Media. Mascola was a longtime Democrat but switched to the Republican Party last year. "These guys campaigned on stabilizing taxes. I don't know how they're going to be stabilized."
For decades, the department has been plagued by dysfunction, misconduct and infighting. Bryan has been running the department since 2008.
And the man who could some day replace him got his new rank as the department's second in command at a Town Hall ceremony Friday at 2 p.m.
Lt. Ronald Mieczkowski, a 31-year veteran of the force, was previously the day shift commander. He will make $192,165, much lower than his counterpart, Anderko.
The mayor rejected the notion that the raises were part of an effort to ease Mieczkowski into the deputy chief position. The town recently passed a law that allows for two deputy chiefs.
He's never filed a lawsuit, is not seen as political, and has never been accused of misconduct, according to Lankey and several members of the department (indeed, in a department riven by conflict, it's hard to find anyone to say a negative word about Mieczkowski). In 2015, he won a law enforcement award for helping usher a family to safety during a house fire, while he was off duty.
Mieczkowski, 57, is the brother of former Chief George Mieczkowski; his son was hired as a patrolman in 2014, and his nephew, George's son, is also an Edison cop.
Lankey has known Mieczkowski since high school.
"He's been a great officer," Lankey said. "He will help take this department to the next level."
Nearly two years ago, the Town Council passed a new police hiring law that was aimed at cleaning up some of the department's problems. Its proponents said it would mean hiring and promotions were based on a test, not based on personal or political connections.
But Lankey said that Mieczkowski's skipping the captain's test was not an issue -- in fact, Bryan before him went from lieutenant to deputy chief, and in that case, he was the head of the department.
"My philosophy is that you pick the person most qualified to take you in the direction you want to go," Lankey said. "Mieczkowski is that person."
Asked about perceptions that Mieczkowski was being groomed as the next chief, Lankey said: "Tom Bryan is the chief, and will be the chief for quite awhile."
Brian Amaral may be reached at bamaral@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @bamaral44. Find NJ.com on Facebook.