SEA ISLE CITY –– Council members here passed a salary ordinance Dec. 27 without support from President Mike McHale and despite strong public opposition to the city payroll.

McHale voted “no” to the measure objecting to a new “Aide to the Mayor” position that was added to the list of job titles in the ordinance.

The position, which was created for the former acting Admistrator Richard Deaney to fill, has a salary range of between $1,000 and $15,000. Deaney is expected to work on unspecified projects to be identified by Mayor Leonard Desiderio and City Council.

The mayor’s salary is set at $20,000 in the ordinance and council members make $12,000.

“When I was running for council, I said I wouldn’t support any new city jobs,” McHale said. He agreed that the city may need additional help on certain projects, but said he would have rather done it through a professional contract and not through a new position.

“Once a position is created, it never seems to go away,” he said.

Even though the position comes without a pension or benefits, residents at the meeting suggested that there would be added costs such as workers’ compensation insurance and social security fees that would increase the city’s expense above Deaney’s salary.

Administrator George Savastano, however, insisted that the city would get more “bang for its buck” by making Deaney an employee.

“A professional with Rich’s experience would cost the city over $100 an hour,” stated Savastano. At that rate, he said, the city would spend significantly more than the $15,000 allocated in the salary range.

Resident Terry Downey asked why Savastano, whose salary range is between $80,000 and $120,000, wasn’t able to address the projects that would be earmarked for Deaney.

McHale explained that Savastano would be busy with the day-to-day operations of the city.

“We have some big, ongoing problems in this community,” McHale said. “We don’t want George to have to deal with them.”

According to Thomas Henry, president of the Sea Isle City Taxpayers Association, the mayoral aide position is only one of the city’s many salary and wage problems.

Henry said the city has 212 position titles listed in the new salary ordinance but only 130 employees.

He said that he counted six new positions and some salary range increases up to $43,000. He also noted salary discrepancies between supervisors and supervising employees, clerks and clerk/typists and numerous deputy and assistant positions.

For instance, a supervisor of public works has a salary range from $25,000 and $62,500 while a supervising mechanic can make as much as $76,000.

Savastano suggested that Henry’s analysis of the salary structure was flawed.

He said all city jobs are considered civil service positions and employees are matched “as closely as possible” to predefined job titles.

Savastano also said the 4 percent increases in salary ranges were “by and large a result of collective bargaining agreements with city unions.”

“The contracts were approved by the previous governing body in good faith,” he said. “I believe this council has a responsibility to abide by those agreements.”

Henry said the city could implement a “red lining” policy in which salaries would not increase above a predetermined level.
Then the city would not be forced to honor union negotiations, he suggested.

Council members admitted the current salary ordinance was flawed but wanted to implement it to make sure city employees would be paid in the New Year.

Councilman John Divney said the city would be hiring a professional company to evaluate the salary ordinance, job titles and descriptions and compare them to those in similar municipalities.

“Some of the ranges are definitely out of line,” Divney said. “We just need some professional help to address the problem.”

Contact Hart at (609) 886-8600 Ext 35 or at: jhart@cmcherald.com