WyBlog

Only in NJ: "retire", collect a fat buyout check, and keep your job

How would you like to retire, get a six figure buyout check, collect your pension, and keep your job and present salary? Well, if you work for Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah T. Healy you can do all that, and more!

Mr. Grego will be paid by the library now, but he'll still be doing exactly the same job, in the same office. Ditto for Ms. Dealy, although her paycheck will come from the Municipal Utilities Authority she is continuing at her job without skipping a beat.

Of course, in the end all the money comes from the same pot, one which is continuously replenished by raiding taxpayers' wallets. Jersey City is mired in a sea of red ink and relies on massive influxes of state aid. This Friday 276 city employees will be let go to help close a multi-million dollar budget gap. Yet even with those layoffs city spending is projected to rise by 7% necessitating whopping property tax hikes.

The residents are not amused. Hundreds of people showed up at a budget hearing last month and gave the city council an earful.

Mayor Healy and his Hudson County Democrat cronies didn't get the message. How else can we explain such an obviously obnoxious stunt as these two "retirements"? Grego and Dealy receive a windfall totaling hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars, fat pension checks, and keep right on cashing six figure paychecks to boot. Meanwhile I'm sure that more than a few of those 276 employees being kicked out the door are wondering how they're going to feed their families next week.

When it comes to feeding at the public trough, the Democratic Party knows all the angles. Governor Christie needs to take a long hard look at Jersey City's state aid formula. They obviously have too much money so it's high time to cut them off. If Jerramiah Healy wants to reward his friends with big payouts then let the bozos who elected him cover the tab.

Frankly I'm tired of these city residents who keep re-electing big spending politicians because they know the state will foot the bill. Maybe if the urban voters actually had to write a check to cover the irresponsibilities promulgated by their pet Democrats they just might choose their elected officials a bit more wisely.

UPDATE 22 Feb 2010 16:58:
The NJ State Senate just passed a package of public employee pension and benefit reform bills.

One of the proposed changes would cap the payout for unused sick days and vacation time at $15,000 per employee. So the charade of these two "retirements" is doubly egregious. Grego and Dealy have no intention of leaving their jobs. They're just cashing out while the cashing out is still available.

With the mayor and council playing along it may not meet the legal definition of fraud, but make no mistake, defrauding the taxpayers is exactly what these two clowns are doing.

How much you wanna bet that when they both re-retire they'll pick up checks for the new $15,000 max sick leave payout? It'll be chump change to them, but just another insult piled on top of injury to us.

UPDATE 23 Feb 2010 08:51:
Linked by Larwyn. Thanks!

Posted at 14:01 by Chris Wysocki   [/nj_politics]   Comments | Archived | Perm Link |
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