ROBBINSVILLE: Officials answer health-benefits question

Three part-time elected officials get coverage through township plan

By Joanne Degnan, Staff Writer
   ROBBINSVILLE — The Township Council, which for almost a year has rebuffed a resident who wanted to know which part-time elected officials accept township health benefits, reversed course and named names last week.
   Mayor Dave Fried and council members Rich Levesque and Christine Ciaccio all receive health-care coverage through the township’s health plan for full-time public employees, officials said at the Township Council meeting March 10.
   All three elected officials have full-time jobs outside of their township duties. Mr. Levesque is director of public outreach and political affairs for a Trenton-based lobbying firm, Ms. Ciaccio owns a farm and garden center on Route 130 and Mr. Fried is the CEO of a human resources company.
   Elected municipal officials in Robbinsville receive part-time salaries for their work, which often encompasses nights and weekends. They also have apparently always been eligible for health benefits, but not all accept them.
   ”You feel it’s OK to pay for full-time health benefits for part-time employees?” Sonja Walter, of Patriot Drive, asked Ms. Ciaccio and Mr. Levesque after they acknowledged receiving health benefits.
   ”Just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should, especially in these difficult economic times when people have been laid off and furloughed,” she continued, referring to township workers affected by last year’s budget cuts.
   The 2011 salary ordinance introduced last week sets the mayor’s salary at $7,879 and the five council members’ salaries at $4,727 each. Mr. Fried, Ms. Ciaccio and Mr. Levesque contribute 1.5 percent of their pay toward health benefits that cost about $7,000 for single-person coverage, township officials said.
   Ms. Walter, a former councilwoman who ran unsuccessfully against Mayor Fried in 2009, has been asking the council to reveal how many part-time elected officials receive health benefits at taxpayer expense since last year’s budget meetings when layoffs, furloughs, pay cuts and a tax hike had to be implemented to close a deficit caused mainly by successful commercial tax appeals.
   As recently as the March 4 Township Council meeting, council members declined to answer her question saying it violated federal medical privacy laws. When she persisted, saying it was established case law that taxpayers have the right to public records revealing the types of coverage provided to public employees (but not their personal health information), the council said it wanted to first discuss the matter with its attorney, Mark Roselli, who was not present at the March 4 meeting.
   Six days later at the next Township Council meeting, Ms. Walter was back asking the same question and reading from a 2005 appellate court decision stating the public had a common law right to access public records about health coverage provided to municipal employees. This time, however, the council members who accept health benefits quickly volunteered that information for the first time.
   ”I am offered health benefits like has been offered ever since our government was started,” Mr. Levesque said. “I accept them, I contribute to them as the law indicates, and I also support Senate President Steve Sweeney and Gov. (Chris) Christie’s proposals for all public employees to contribute 30 percent of their pay to health care.”
   ”And currently you pay … is it 1 or 1.5 percent of your salary so it’s roughly $50 a year that you pay for a $7,500 plan, is that it?” Ms. Walter asked.
   ”I understand you can say you work hard, and you do, and believe me I know because I was there for four years so I understand completely…” Ms. Walter started to say before Mr. Levesque interrupted her.
   ”I know — and you didn’t change it, did you?” Mr. Levesque retorted. “And the reason we have a (health benefits) program is because of the things that you did when you were on the council…”
   Township Council President Sheree McGowan then stepped in to stop the verbal sparring.
   ”This is not the forum for that,” Ms. McGowan said.
   Ms. Ciaccio did not comment on her decision to accept health benefits, other that to say she had tried to volunteer the information at the March 4 meeting, but no one noticed her trying to speak in the hubbub that ensued after Ms. Walter asked the health benefits question.
   Mayor Fried said Monday the health-benefits issue was old news.
   ”She’s brought this up every election cycle,” he said, referring to Ms. Walter.
   There are three Robbinsville Township Council seats up for grabs in the May 10 municipal election.