Today’s Daily Record is carrying an article about the Chief Financial Officer in Mount Arlington stepping down from his position. The article is written such that the “story” is how the expected replacement does not have a Master’s Degree nor has she finished the required training classes to assume the position yet. Alright, maybe there is some type of story there, but I’m not really interested in that.
My interest, as many of you know, is with unnecessary government expenditures. The article in the Daily Record lists out the remuneration of the current CFO:
Dickinson was paid $15,000 a year to work about one day a week as the borough’s chief financial officer. He also earned an additional $10,000 this year for extra work overseeing the borough’s bond offerings and an additional $12,000 for acting as an internal auditor.
The salary the next chief financial officer will earn has yet to be determined, Ondish said.
Dickinson will retire from his internal auditor and bond service roles in addition to retiring as chief financial officer. It is expected that Rinaldi will be appointed only as chief financial officer, although she would also retain her current duties as assistant administrator.
Does anyone else see a problem with paying a guy $15,000 per year for “about one day a week” of work? I do. For a municipality as small as Mount Arlington there is no need to spend more than $5,000 per year on such a part-time employee. The $10,000 for overseeing the bond issue is about in the right range, but I have another issue with the $12,000 for acting as the internal auditor.
No, it’s not the expense (which seems about right for doing a municipal audit) – it’s that in a state where “double-dipping” is seen as a major issue and the word “corruption” is thrown around as a catchphrase, I wouldn’t want either of those negative stigmas to hit my good hometown. Of course, my concern might be borne of the fact that I live in Monmouth County a.k.a. Corruption Capital of the Jersey Shore!
In any event, I think it is high time for taxpayers to create independent, VOLUNTEER councils to review municipal expenditures. If such a council can operate on a volunteer basis and remain politics-free, then they would be major benefits to the entire municipality. That is, of course, a pipe dream!
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5*$15K= $75K year. Sounds about right for a masters degree and the years of experience. Also he is not on the pension plan and probably does not get health care. So if he does this for 4 other towns he is making a decent but not obscene income but he seems to be an independent contractor and I can vouch that the fringe rate for a government employee is currently between 35 and 50%. So he could be more expensive if he wwere employed by the municipality instead of contracted.
First of all, if anyone really believes that this part-time guy spent about one day on Mount Arlington stuff per week, then I have a bridge to sell them. I’ve seen as many white-collar government contractors as you have, I’m sure. If he had 8 or 9 small municipalities, I wouldn’t be surprised. I won’t make that accusation because it would be improper to, but I will say that it’s not uncommon to run into an attorney (for example) who serves as the township attorney and thus has to be at council meetings once a month. The contract? In Monmouth County they can get as high as $45,000 for the year!
In my mind, it’s all government waste. But regardless, no one is going to complain, so who cares?
You make many generalizations here. Sure these guys usually have multiple municipal contracts, but remember these guys tend to be low bidders. So I would saay that is the cost of doing business.
BTW, how do you know how much work he does? I don’t exactly see the point of your diatribe. A town must have an Attorney to review its documents and must have a cfo. This is exactly why consolidation is so vital. Home rule is killing NJ taxpayers.
Just because they are needed doesn’t mean that the tax payers should keep coughing up higher taxes to pay for them.
You should go back and re-read the last comment – the generalizations I make are about the industries where I know people and I said that I wouldn’t make an assumption about this guy because it would be improper. (Besides the fact that this is a personal blog and I’m allowed to make generalizations! Not everything has to be the debate of the Century! 🙂 )
What I DO know is how LITTLE work many of these municipal contractors do throughout the year. I’ve worked with lawyers that do almost nothing as municipal attorneys and rake in tens of thousands of dollars for their firm. I know many municipal auditors who spend only a portion of 4 or 5 days per year going over a township’s books. I know public relations firms that sign contracts with townships for $50,000 per year and their “product” is a 4-page, quarterly newsletter (shipping and printing costs paid by the town). I put out a quarterly newsletter and it costs me about $1,200 to do it for the year!
It’s a disgrace.