Skip to content

A town square for an unsquare town

redbankgreen

Standing for the vitality of Red Bank, its community, and the fun we have together.

RED BANK: PAYOUTS WILL DEPLETE FUND

rb-borough-hall-111316-2-500x375-6300258Red Bank’s borough hall during a roof replacement job in November. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

By JOHN T. WARD

taxes-220x219-4107330Retirements by three senior employees in coming months won’t put an immediate squeeze on Red Bank taxpayers, two municipal officials said Tuesday.

But the departures will all but deplete a rainy day fund created to cushion the blow of outsized payouts for unused sick and vacation time, said Councilwoman Linda Schwabenbauer, who heads the finance committee.

As reported by redbankgreen, the borough council agreed in executive session on December 14 to pay two prospective retirees — Administrator Stanley Sickels and police Captain Tom McDonough — a total of $327,356 in coming months for unused sick days and vacation time accumulated over their careers.

A borough native, volunteer firefighter and 37-year borough employee, Sickels is to be paid $173,828.20 for unused sick time, according to a payout schedule provided by finance department. That sum will be divided into two payments of $86,914.10, one due by the end of this week, the other at the end of June.

Here’s the payment schedule: 16-304-sickels-schedule

If not for a borough policy capping compensation for unused sick time, Sickels would be entitled to another $115,614.86, the records show.

The payout slightly exceeds the $173,824 Sickels collects in combined salary for his jobs as administrator, construction official and purchasing agent. 

McDonough, who serves as second in command under Chief Darren McConnell, plans to wrap up his 30-year career in the police department with a $153,528 payout in two checks of $76,764, one payable this week and the other by the end of February, according to the documents.

Here’s the McDonough payout schedule: 16-304-mcdonough-schedule

Chief Financial Officer Eugenia Poulos said the Sickels and McDonough payouts will be fully covered by a trust fund known as the “reserve for accumulated absence liabilities.” At present, she said, the fund holds $443,000.

The fund “has always been there, but little by little, we’ve been putting more into it,” Poulous said.

More attention was paid to keeping the account funded after a wave of expensive retirements in 2010 forced the council to float a $750,000 bond, , said Schwabenbauer.

McConnell told redbankgreen that another senior department member, Lieutenant Eliot Ramos, has also announced plans to retire early in 2017. But because Ramos did not participate in the deferred compensation plan along with Sickels and McDonough, his payout “won’t be as high” as McDonough’s, McConnell said.

Still, Schwabenbauer said the combined effect of the three departures will all but deplete the fund. Re-funding it won’t, however, necessitate a tax increase, she said.

The fund is needed to buffer the impacts of retirements by employees hired before 1994, when the borough imposed sick and vacation-time payout caps on new hires. Schwabenbauer said that with each passing year, the number of employees eligible for payouts is reduced, but she had not yet received a report from Poulos that projects the annual impacts.

McConnell said that after McDonough retires, his department will have only four officers with more than 25 years of borough service, including himself.

McConnell said McDonough had taken only about 28 sick days over the course of his career, which from an administration standpoint is “helps keep overtime in check.”

Including McDonough and Ramos, the police department has 40 full-time officers, two fewer than in the past, McConnell said. Following their retirements, he hopes to get the squad back to 40 by the start of summer, but has not yet begun the search for new hires, he said.

Remember: Nothing makes a Red Bank friend happier than to hear "I saw you on Red Bank Green!"
redbankgreen Classics
Partyline
THIS LOT IS GOING TO POT!!
Do NOT hit this monster pothole in Red Bank’s best parking lot for people watching or your weekend plans may go up in smoke. In the backgr ...
DEM GOV HOPEFUL FULOP VISITS RED BANK
110 people braved the ice on Super Bowl Sunday morning to head to Triumph Brewery to hear Steve Fulop’s case for why he should be our ...
REAL BRICKS!
Pardon our nerdiness, but we were excited to see the facade of the long-vacant building at 42 Monmouth being renovated with a facade that ap ...
NAVESINK SUNRISE
Sunrise colors Sunday over the Navesink. Shot from Maple Cove. (photo by Partyline contributor Thomas Doremus)
PET OWNER TO RED BANK: SCREW YOU
(photo and text by Partyline contributor Anna Cruz; headline by redbankgreen) Remember to scoop the poop!  
A HAIR DRYER IN A TREE?
(Photo and text by Partyline contributor Nicole Taetsch) If someone is missing a red hair dryer, it’s hanging from a tree on Oakland S ...
FROM DEEP LEFT FIELD..
(Photo and words by Partyline contributor Peter Cavalier) Shapes, Angles, and Colors: an Artist’s Canvas Where: A frigid Saturday morn ...
SUNSET ICE BOATING
Sunset ice boating Saturday. (photo by Partyline contributor Thomas Doremus)
ICY NAVESINK BLISS
Ice boating is back, baby! (Photo by partyline contributor Boris Kofman)
TEACHERS GET COUNCIL KUDOS
The Mayor and Borough Council honored five teachers from the Red Bank Borough Schools who were selected for the Governor’s Educator of the ...
RED BANK LIBRARY HEAD BIDS ADIEU
Eleni Glykis in her last day on the job in Red Bank Thursday (photo by Brian Donohue) redbankgreen stopped in the Red Bank Public Library to ...
TO TOWER HILL!
Parents and kids flocked to Tower Hill on Monday morning, taking advantage of the federal holiday and perfectly timed Sunday snowfall.
BROAD STREET IN WHITE
Taken during the snowstorm Sunday. (Photo by Partyline contributor Thomas Doremus)
Stunning Sunrise at Marine Park
Sunday’s sunrise from Marine Park. (photo by Partyline contributor Thomas Doremus)  
WALL STREET CLOSED FOR LEAK
Wall Street in Red Bank closed for water leak.
INDOOR SOCCER KICKS OFF
Pre-k and kindergarten aged kids were at Red Bank Middle School bright and early Sunday, participating in the indoor soccer program hosted b ...
SUNSET OVER FROZEN NAVESINK RIVER
Sunset colors Saturday evening over the ice shot from  Shrewsbury Ave. (Photo by Partyline contributor Thomas Doremus)  
ICY VIEW FROM TRAIN WINDOW
View of the partially frozen Navesink River Saturday afternoon from NJCL Train #7244. (Photo by Partyline contributor Karly Swaim)
RBR BEATS RBC IN BOYS HOOPS RIVALRY
 Red Bank Regional's boys basketball came out with the win at home against their crosstown rivals Red Bank Catholic on Tuesday in Little Si ...
FRIGID DINNER FOR WATER LINE WORKERS
Work continued into the late night hours on Bank Street Tuesday night as a crew replaced several water lines to homes under the town wide le ...