VERNON, N.J. (AP) - Critics are blasting a proposal that would give a $40,000 pay raise to the mayor of a northwestern New Jersey town, an amount that would more than double his current salary.
The Vernon Township Council is expected to vote Monday night on the raise for Mayor Vic Marotta, who took office in July 2011 as Vernon’s first directly elected mayor. He currently earns $30,000 a year, but says the raise is well-deserved for all the work he does as chief executive of Sussex County’s largest municipality.
The proposal comes 14 months after township voters soundly rejected a council-approved ordinance that would have given Marotta a $20,000 raise. The measure also would have boosted council stipends from $3,000 to $5,000 and provided possible raises for about 36 municipal employees.
Marotta and his supporters say the raise is deserved, citing the numerous hours he works in overseeing a staff of 119 full-time employees and a $23 million budget.
They also note that when township voters changed the township’s form of government in 2010, they made the elected mayor the town’s chief executive and gave him broad powers and responsibilities over Vernon’s day-to-day operations. At the same time, the township manager took on a lesser role.
While many critics of the proposed pay raise say they don’t object to Marotta’s performance in office, they strongly question whether such a large raise is warranted. If it’s approved, some critics have vowed to seek signatures to hold another referendum.
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