SHORT ASKS COMMITTEE TO CONSIDER BENEFITS ISSUE

PRESS RELEASE

For Immediate Publication

September 19, 2006

POC: Middletown Democrat for Township Committee Patrick Short/Tel:
732-796-9574 or Greg Gibadlo, at: gibadloforfreeholder@hotmail.com

SHORT ASKS COMMITTEE TO CONSIDER BENEFITS ISSUE

Gibadlo weighs in on benefits issue for elected, apointed officials

MIDDLETOWN TOWNSHIP (MONMOUTH COUNTY, NJ): Middletown Democrat for Township Committee Patrick Short said the issue of part-time politicians being eligible for pensions and health care benefits from the public is one that the Middletown Committee should be dealing with, regardless of any upcoming election.

Democratic Freeholder Candidate Greg Gibadlo, Middletown, joins him in this call for reform.

Short said that he is raising as an issue full-time benefits for part-time politicians and appointees. "I welcome the input and support from Mr. Gibadlo," Short said.

Short started the discussion of this issue in June, without response by GOP office holders or any candidates. In Middletown, the all-Republican Township Committee has not considered the idea of revisiting who receives pension and health benefits in both elected and appointed office. "There are times when partisanship is innocuous and then there are times when such partisanship just costs taxpayers too much money. I think there is a real opportunity for savings to taxpayers from revisiting elected and appointed benefits and it is an area that is worthy of investigation by the governing body," Short said.

"What kind of compensation package someone gets in an elected or appointed position should be on the table, especially during these economic times," Gibadlo said.

"When people are hurting and going through difficult times, we need to rethink the elaborate benefit packages for the elected and appointed officials who serve the taxpayers. Regardless of the economic prosperity of residents, the providing of benefit packages to county employees, and even municipal employees, must be consistent," Gibadlo said.

In Middletown, Short explained these are especially difficult times for township residents to be bearing the burden of excessive patronage. "If the committee chooses not to work with Democrats then that is fine, but any progress in this area would represent a step in the right direction," Short said.

Short noted that anyone who seeks public office has an impetus to do good in the community. "All I am saying is that there is tax money that is, in some very important ways, being wasted and this situation warrants a thorough and thoughtful examination and the likelihood of action," he said.

Reducing and eventually eliminating full-time benefits for part-time office holders is one of Short's platform issues during this year's General Election. Others include: Adopting a standard of 2,000 hours worked in a year to earn pension and health care benefits and eliminating pension and health benefits of local vendor's who provide professional services to the township.

One possibility to consider is adopting 401k benefit plans for newly elected officials and political appointees that are eligible for benefit plans.

Another possibility is the elimination of "tacking" where employees hold multiple public jobs to increase their salary on which their pension is based. And, require employees to designate one job on which their pensions would be calculated.

Short said, "What I am talking about at this specific moment applies strictly to the elected and appointed people on the various boards and commissions. However, I would like to gain a better understanding on why it should not be applied across all township departments."



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