Page 4 THE VILLADOM TIMES I • December 7, 2011 FLOW Area Regional school district awaits trials of two lawsuits by Frank J. McMahon The Ramapo Indian Hills Regional High School District and its school board president are expected to be in Superior Court soon for two separate trials of lawsuits filed by Paul Saxton, the former superintendent who retired in 2008. Saxton has filed suits against Board President Ira Belsky for slander and libel, and against the regional district and school board for not paying pension benefits he says were promised to him. In the lawsuit covering his pension, Saxton also claims that the district has not paid him for his unused sick days and vacation days. The slander and libel lawsuit was scheduled for trial on Dec. 5, but that case has been postponed and no new date has been set by the court. The details of the slander and libel trial were previously reported in Villadom TIMES. In brief, the complaint by Saxton is that his reputation was damaged by oral and written statements made by Belsky in 2008. According to Saxton, those statements were critical of how he managed the district and contained numerous false statements about him and his abilities as superintendent. Belsky denies that he knew, or should have known, that the statements he made as a trustee regarding Saxton were false or that he acted maliciously and intentionally to damage Saxton’s reputation. Belsky further denies that his written statement that was read at a school board meeting contained false statements. The non-jury trial of the lawsuit against the school district and board of education is scheduled for Dec. 14. That lawsuit involves Saxton’s claim that the additional compensation the district contracted to pay him during his employment for unused vacation and sick days, tax shelter annuity, a flexible spending account, auto allowance, compensatory days, and all excess portions of longevity payments would be counted towards the calculation of his pension. The pension portion of that lawsuit was dismissed by Superior Court Judge Mark M. Russello on Oct. 21 following oral arguments that morning. Russello dismissed Saxton’s claim that he is entitled to payment by the school district for pension benefits he says were promised to him as part of his contract negotiations with the district during his 11 years as superintendent because the district does not have the power in law to make those promises and they are therefore null and void. Russello noted in his decision that the state’s pension board found that the additional compensation Saxton received in lieu of salary from the district was not creditable for pension purposes, so any promise on the part of the school board, or its attorney, to guarantee that the additional compensation would be counted toward his pension was in violation of state law and “ultra vires,” or outside the legal powers or the authority of the board. “While a public body may contract with an individual,” Russello stated, “it can only do so within its expressed or (continued on page 27)