Politics & Government

Mayoral Salary Change to be Decided Tonight

Ordinance up for second reading

Among the items on the agenda for the Jan. 24 township council meeting is the second reading and final passage of an ordinance that will reduce the salary of the Brick mayor if he or she has outside, full-time employment.

Council President John Ducey threw his support behind the ordinance earlier this month, touting the measure as "part time pay for part time work" if a mayor has a full-time job in addition to his mayoral duties.

The ordinance would leave the current salary of $52,000 in place if a mayor has outside employment of less than 35 hours per week. But "full time" employment of 35 hours or more per week – regardless of whether that employment is in the public or private sectors – would mean a reduction to $15,000 per year for the township's top elected official.

Find out what's happening in Brickwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Current mayor Stephen C. Acropolis has been criticized for maintaining a full-time job as director of the Toms River Municipal Utilities Authority while earning an additional full-time salary as Brick mayor. But Acropolis has decided to for the remainder of his term regardless of whether the proposed ordinance finds support in township council members.

Proponents of the measure, including Ducey, hold that the salary change is clear cut, but others have cautioned that the legal language in the ordinance is incomplete.

Find out what's happening in Brickwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The ordinance does not set forth any stated mechanism to verify the hourly employment of future elected mayors, which has caused Acropolis and others to question whether a future mayor who operates his or her own business could simply state they work 34 hours per week in order to collect the full salary.

But Ducey defended his plan at a workshop meeting Jan. 17.

"Everybody knows, if somebody's working a full time job, they're working a full time job," he said.

A public hearing on the measure will be held before the council votes on whether to pass it into law.

The meeting begins at 7 p.m. at the township .

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The council will take up several other matters at Tuesday's meeting, including a vote on whether to solicit bids for the on Chambers Bridge Road, as well as a plan to purchase three sanitation trucks from Fair Haven Borough at a cost of $208,000.

Business Administrator Scott Pezarras has said the three trucks were lightly used by Fair Haven and would replace three automated sanitation trucks in town that are 14 years old and in need of replacement.


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