MACK WANTS RAISE

Mayor seeks more money for Cabinet, too

Trenton Mayor Tony Mack says his directors should not make more money than him, which is what would happen with the DCA’S newest hires.

TRENTON — Mayor Tony Mack’s administration wants City Council to adopt an ordinance that would give Mack and his Cabinet directors pay raises, The Trentonian has learned.

Sources said the administration presented the salary increase plan to council members Tuesday night during an executive session.

A memorandum of understanding gives the state of New Jersey influence over Mack’s personnel decisions. The state Department of Community Affairs on Wednesday said it didn’t authorize increased salaries but also didn’t rule them out.

“Our Division of Local Government Services in the process of reviewing resumes and vetting candidates and it will make a determination about the need to increase salaries if there seems to be a need after it is done reviewing resumes,” DCA spokesperson Lisa Ryan said. “It is too premature to approve pay increases at this point.”

But sources close to Mack suggested the DCA would prefer City Council to pass a pay-raise ordinance.

An administration insider said the request for the ordinance is justified by the mayor and his department directors getting paid at a 2005 wage scale and the council having a responsibility to raise those salaries to a 2012 standard of living.

“The guy who runs Trenton Housing Authority makes more than the mayor. The guy who runs the Lafayette Yard hotel makes more than the mayor. It’s just unfair, really,” said the administration insider, who requested anonymity.

Some municipal subordinates earn more money than their bosses. “Those people who run departments should be paid the most,” the insider said. “Quite frankly, (a director) should be the highest paid person in the department.”

With the information leaking from his administration, Mack on Wednesday refused to confirm or deny the pay raise proposal.

“We will provide you with information as it becomes public. At this point there’s been no changes to salaries to my knowledge,” Mack told The Trentonian. “I don’t have anything to share.”

Mack in August 2010 lost about $25,000 in salary when Superior Court Judge Linda Feinberg ruled he and his department heads must adhere to a 2005 pay

“The guy who runs Trenton Housing Authority makes more than the mayor. The guy who runs the Lafayette Yard hotel makes more than the mayor. It’s just unfair, really.”

scale. Feinberg issued that ruling to remedy an improper pay raise that previous Mayor Doug Palmer and his department directors received during Palmer’s last term in office.

Palmer and the others who received the improper pay raises didn’t have to pay back the money. The Mack administration insider said Feinberg also ordered City Council to set salaries “at today’s rate” to counterbalance the huge pay cuts.

The current City Council hasn’t adopted any ordinances to raise the salaries of Mack or his department directors. Several city workers in Mack’s inner circle, including spokesperson Lauren Ira, in 2010 received an upward salary “adjustment” that was quickly rescinded.

George Dougherty, the attorney who sued the city over Palmer’s improper pay raise, said Feinberg “would have never ordered” City Council to give pay raises to Mack administration officials.

“It’s amazing in this economy that any public officials would think this is the time to use their own powers to raise their own salaries,” Dougherty said. “You have to think of what other uses we could have with that money.”

Mack’s annual salary went from $149,000 to about $126,000 when Feinberg issued her ruling. His department directors have salaries of about $104,000. The city’s business administrator makes about $110,000. One of Mack’s former business administrators, Eric Berry, is now making about $125,000 as the business administrator for the City of Plainfield, which is smaller than Trenton in size and population.

City Council President Kathy Mcbride on Wednesday declined to comment, saying she “would be in violation” to discuss any matters that came from a closed meeting. Does Mack deserves a raise? (609) 379-2503