I had to laugh when I read the story about East Brunswick Mayor William Neary being against making the mayor’s post full time (Sentinel, Sept. 14).
Of course he would be against doing this. First of all, he would lose money since he holds the part-time mayor’s post at $20,000 a year along with his full-time Middlesex County appointed position worth $78,000 a year with Keep Middlesex Moving. While your article states that Keep Middlesex Moving is a nonprofit, I wonder where its funds come from. Maybe the taxpayers? And just why is it needed? But that is something to discuss at another time.
Based on the recently departed Woodbridge mayor’s full-time salary of $75,000 and Brick’s full-time mayor’s salary of $52,000, Mayor Neary would lose a good portion of the $98,000 a year he now makes from his two jobs. I assume this would also lower the mayor’s pension benefits, based on the lower salary he would earn as a full-time mayor. I also had to laugh about his comment that he does not think financial considerations should play a role in someone seeking the mayor’s job, since it seems his $78,000 county job came about only because he was mayor.
Neary himself stated several times in your article that the mayor’s position was a full-time job. So why not make it that way and save the taxpayers some money in the process by making a full-time mayor and cutting staff in the mayor’s office? In addition, if the mayor’s job is such a full-time job as Neary stated, I wondered how he finds the time to do his full-time county job along with a full-time mayor’s job.
Councilwoman Christi Calvano has a good idea that would benefit East Brunswick on several points. But it seems, once again, because of others’ double-dipping and Calvano’s political affiliation, a good idea is ignored and the taxpayers of East Brunswick are the losers once again.
Matty Cordasco
East Brunswick