Middlesex Democrats submit pension bill to help councilor stay in office
New Jersey lawmakers are considering tinkering with state government pension rules. | AP photo
Middlesex County Democrats are seeking a small change to decade-old pension reforms during the lame duck legislative session so a longtime member of the Carteret Borough Council can retire from his state job while continuing to serve in the local governing body and still receive his pension .
State Senator Joe Vitale and Assemblyman Yvonne Lopez (both D-Middlesex) have enacted legislation, NJ S4189 (20R), that will allow elected officials to remain in office while receiving their national pension, “if the member’s pension supplement is not based solely on the member’s service. in the public office for which the member is elected. “
The bill, introduced last Monday, is written specifically for 20-year-old Carteret councilor Raymond “Randy” Krum, who plans to retire Dec. 1 after nearly 32 years at the New Jersey Turnpike Authority, where he works as a training leader.
Krum, 64, said he discovered on his own that he would be excluded from receiving his pension, which is based on his Turnpike salary – $ 115,582 this year, according to state records – and a municipal salary, he said, is about $ 10,000. . Under current law, Krum had to resign from his council post for six months because both jobs are in the public employees’ pension system.
Under the measure sponsored by Vitale and Lopez, Krum would have to lose his elected official salary for a year while receiving his state pension, but he would not have to resign from the Carteret Council.
“If it was not a paid thing, it would not be a problem. I did not make the rules or the laws or anything. It happened, “he said.
The proposal essentially brings back a statute that existed before 2011, when former Republican Gov. Chris Christie and Legislative Democrats passed sweeping measures to overhaul and cut public pensions and benefits.
The bill comes as Middlesex County Democrats have seen their legislative influence grow. With the South Jersey Democrats losing two seats in the state Senate and four in the House in the Nov. 2 election, Middlesex County Democrats – one of whom, Craig Coughlin, chairs the House – are poised to become the Legislative Assembly’s most powerful voting bloc in January, with five seats in the Senate and six in the Assembly. Some legislators from the neighboring offices typically vote with them as well.
Krum said he spoke to Coughlin, who is not a sponsor, about the bill.
Cecilia Williams, a spokeswoman for Coughlin, said in a statement that the speaker “supports a thorough and thoughtful review of the bill through the ordinary committee process, where stakeholders and members of the public will have the opportunity to weigh into the Assembly’s careful consideration of legislation.”
The Legislative Assembly has struggled to undo pension reforms several times, occasionally to help certain people. For example, one of the last bills Christie signed as governor was designed to give then-Camden Mayor Dana Redd back to the first tier of the pension system, just as she was hired for a job of $ 275,000 a year in an obscure university board .
Governor Phil Murphy also signed a law in September to allow county prosecutors back into the pension system, while moving staffed prosecutors employed after 2010 into the more generous pension system that those employed for their jobs before then will benefit from. It was one of several bills to restore pensions to certain civil servants that made some progress in the Legislature.
According to a published report last week, the Legislative Assembly plans to speed up a bill that will allow Judge Glenn Grant, the administrative director of the courts of New Jersey, to defer his retirement so he can continue to serve in his administrative position. over the required legal retirement age of 70.
Vitale acknowledged that his bill is designed specifically for Krum, noting that it allows him to continue serving on the council without any change in his pension. Had Krum’s second job been in a different pension system, Vitale said, his retirement would not be a problem.
“If he was in a different retirement system, like a teacher or firefighter, he could stay in that job,” Vitale said. “This just gives him the opportunity to serve his community. It’s not double dipping. He’s not raising any more money. ‘It’s a pension he’s entitled to.”
Even if the bill is passed under the lame duck, Krum is likely to step down from the council temporarily. He plans to retire on Dec. 1, but the first Senate and Assembly meetings for the lame duck are not scheduled until Dec. 2.
Krum said he hopes he can step down briefly and that, if the bill is passed, Carteret’s Democratic Party members can elect him to fill the temporary vacancy.
“If that happens, I’ll be happy. I can stay as a councilor,” he said. “If not, what will you do then?”
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