In a closed session of the Hoboken BOE last night Hoboken Board secretary David Anthony resigned as of June 30, 2010. An old board created his position and 45k contract for 0-21 years, 50% of last year salary pension promise, all duties can be given to someone else, immediate tenure, a lifetime contract (apparently illegal), and an impossible termination clause.
Originally, this was an unpaid repsonsibilty of the Business Administrator. A former BOE member Teresa Burns brought this (split) newly created position to the table, and it was seconded by Jack Raslowski. It was also signed by Francis Rhodes-Kearns approved by all of the above plus James Farina and Frank Raia.
Going forward, that position will go back to being a nonpaid duty of the Business Administrator, just like all of the other school districts in the state of NJ (sans about 20 out of about 200).
David Anthony aquired tenure immediately. It should be boted that state law mandates that no BOE member can take a paid position without a 60 day step down grace period. David Anthony was granted this position the same day or a day after he stepped down. The NJ DOE has Stated in the past: "If your board is stupid enough to do this and no one files a complaint---so be it".
You might want to attach his contract to this so your viewers can see for themselves.
- Anonymous
Here is the copy of the Contract for David Anthony and his Board Secretary Position:
Additional notes on retirement:
David Anthony is a Tier 1 employee. Upon retirement, his contract states that he will get 50% of his last year of salary, This generosity is not found anywhere in the retirement package for state BOE employees. See below for a standard description and allottment of retirement benefits.
Retirement
Available to Tier 1 and Tier 2 members upon reaching age 60 or older; or to Tier 3 members upon reaching age 62 or older. No minimum amount of pension service credit is required.
The formula to calculate the maximum annual pension is:
Years of Service X Final Average Divided by 55 = Maximum Salary Annual Allowance
Example 1: A member with 22 years of service would receive 22/55 or 40% of Final Average Salary. Allowance will not be paid if the calculated benefit is less than $25 per month.
• ‘Years of Service’ means the years and months of pension service credited to youraccount — including purchased service credit. It does not necessarily mean years and months of employment.
• ‘Salary’ means the base salary on which your pension contributions are based. It does not include extra pay for overtime or money given in anticipation of your retirement. Nor does it include additional salary for performing temporary or extracurricular duties beyond the regular school day or the regular school year.
• ‘Final Average Salary’ means your average salary for the three years immediately preceding your retirement (either 36 months for employees with 32-month contracts or 30 months for employees with 10-month contracts).
If your last three years are not your highest years of salary, your allowance may be calculated using your three highest fiscal years.
Vesting
You are vested in the TPAF after you have attained 10 years of service credit. Being vested in the TPAF means that you are guaranteed the right to receive a retirement benefit. For Tier 1 and Tier 2 members this is when you reach age 60. For Tier 3 members this is when you reach age 62.
• If you are vested and terminate your employment, you must file a retirement application prior to receipt of any benefits for which you may qualify (see page 15 for the types of retirement including Deferred Retirement) or you may voluntarily withdraw from the retirement system (see page 39).
• If you are vested, terminate your employment without retiring or withdrawing, and return to covered employment within two consecutive years of the last pension contribution, you may continue to make contributions to — and accrue service in — the existing pension account.
Example 2: A TPAF Tier 1 member with 15 ars of service terminates employment at age 45 and accepts another TPAF eligible position six months later. In this case, the member can resume making contributions to the existing TPAF account and would retain their Tier 1 membership status.
• If you are vested, terminate your employment without retiring or withdrawing, and return to covered employment two or more years after the last pension contribution, you cannot resume contributions to the vested account. Instead you would be enrolled in a new TPAF account.
Eample 3: A TPAF Tier 1 member with 15 years of service terminates employment at age 45 and accepts another TPAF eligible position three years later. In this case, it has been over two consecutive years since the last TPAF contribution, and the member would be required to enroll under a new TPAF account as a Tier 3 member (see “Exceptions” on page 40 if laid off or terminated through no fault of your own).
• If you are not vested and you terminate employment before retiring, your options vary depending on the nature of your termination and/or your age at the time of your termination (see “Terminating Employment” on page 39).
My comment: From what I read from this is that the Hoboken BOE contract is very generous in terms of what other school districts give out. That is the fault of a previous board and not the current administration or quite frankly David Anthony himself. Who wouldn't want that deal. The issue was and still is that contract should have never been written so generously in the first place. Exhobitant pay for non teaching positions is not "doing it for the children". ◦
