Municipal Utilities Authority And Berkeley Township Sewerage Authority Commissioners Now Free To Double Their Salaries

by Patricia A. Miller

It's official.

Members of the Berkeley Township Sewerage Authority and the Municipal Utilities Authority are now free to double their salaries, if they so choose.

The all-GOP Township Council members last night voted unanimously to adopt the ordinance. Authority commissioners can vote themselves an increase in their salaries, from $2,500 to $5,000 for attending one meeting a month.

State statutes allow sewerage and utilities authorities to determine their own salaries, Township Attorney Lauren R. Staiger said.

School boards and members of other commissions and boards must abide by different statutes, which don't call for salaries, Staiger said.

That didn't sit well with resident Laura Wheeler-Shaw, who noted that members of school boards and any other commissions or boards receive any salaries and do the work for free.

"Ultimately, it's up to the governing body," Wheeler-Shaw said, meaning the Township Council had a choice in whether they adopted the ordinance.

"Do the right thing for the ratepayers of Berkeley Township," Wheeler-Shaw said. "It looks bad. It's excessive, it's extreme and it's underserved."

Newly-appointed Township Administrator John Camera said commissioners on both the MUA and the BTSA do much more than attend the required once-a-month public meeting.

"Like most boards, they...seem to put in a lot of time," Camera said.

Both authorities carry surpluses each year, he said.

"They've given the township considerable amounts of money over the years," Camera said.

This was not the first attempt to adopt the ordinance.

Berkeley Township Sewerage Authority Chairman Anthony DePaolo first proposed raising the BTSA commissioners' salaries back in October 2013. He asked that the chairman be paid $3,400 and other commissioners be paid $3,000, because of the "extraordinary amount of time and effort" members put in, according to 2013 BTSA minutes.

The six MUA commissioners could see their salaries double, from $2,500 a year to $5,000. The six BTSA commissioners - who are already paid $3,000 a year - could see a $2,000 increase, the ordinance states.

Commissioners on the BTSA - who are political appointments - include DePaolo, former Township Councilman Nathan Abbe, Robert Martino, Wendy Colombo, Steven Pellecchia and Joseph Bruscino.

The current MUA salaries for the six commissioners are $2,500, except for the commissioner acting as secretary, who is paid $3,750 a year.

The MUA commissioners include Chairman Michael W. Hale, former Township Councilwoman Karen Davis, Lloyd G. Mullikin, who serves as secretary, Eric Sudia, Edward Cammarato and alternate commissioner Kevin Askew, who is also a former Township Council member.

What do you think? Should MUA and BTSA members receive raises? Should they receive salaries? Tell us in the comments section below.