Edison council eyes doubling its own pay, hiking other officials' salaries

The proposal itself wouldn't hike pay, but would be the first step in the process of doing so.

EDISON -- The seven-member Town Council is considering the first steps to double its own pay and to increase the maximum possible salaries for other high-ranking town officials.

"Edison has had difficulty filling key positions in the past few years," Council President Michael R. Lombardi said in an emailed statement.

The proposal, up for a vote in February, would not hike pay just yet. Instead, it's the first step in the process to do just that. Salaries are set on a case-by-case basis, so the council would have to vote again before the pay hikes went into effect.

An analysis by ETI Management LLC found that Edison's top officials were "substantially under-compensated" compared to similar towns, the township said. Those towns included Brick, Clifton, Elizabeth, Hamilton, Linden, Toms River, and Woodbridge.

"The recent analysis that was performed clearly indicated that Edison's top salaries are not competitive in the municipal government marketplace," he added.

http://www.nj.com/middlesex/index.ssf/2016/01/edison_welcomes_2_new_councilmen.html

Under the proposal, members of council could eventually take home as much as $12,000 annually, up from $6,000. The council president would go to $13,000, from $6,500. A follow-up resolution would be required to put the pay raises into effect.

That's comparable to nearby towns in Middlesex County. Perth Amboy council members make $10,000, and the council president makes $12,000. In Woodbridge, the council president makes $9,867, while the vice president makes $9,617 and council members make $9,368.

Edison council members also don't get town health benefits, unlike all of the other towns that were part of the ETI study except for Woodbridge, township officials said.

If the new limits are approved, the business administrator could make as much as $161,000; for the CFO, $147,000; for the director of public works, $132,000; the town clerk, $121,000; the parks and rec director, $108,000; the director of health and human services, $121,000; the construction official, $130,000, the tax assessor, $115,000; and the tax collector, $90,000.

"We want to be crystal clear: This ordinance does not automatically increase any director's or any official's salary," Business Administrator Maureen Ruane said in an email. "This ordinance simply updates the not-to-exceed salary amounts for certain key township positions."

Before those officials saw a bump in their paychecks, the council would have to vote again for each of them.

The proposal will be on the Feb. 10 council agenda for a public hearing and final approval. It was waved through last week.

The council last hiked salary caps in 2012, Ruane said.

A pay hike for council members is likely to come under criticism.

"They are irresponsible," said Wayne Mascola, a former councilman who switched to the Republican Party in disgust with the local establishment. "Asking everybody else in town only to take a 2 percent raise and giving yourself 100 percent, and when you campaigned on a platform of stabilizing taxes, is irresponsible."