Ridgewood August 17, 2011 THE VILLADOM TIMES II • Page 3 Residents express concern over salary increase by John Koster The Ridgewood Village Council’s 4-1 vote to grant Village Manager Ken Gabbert a salary increase from $165,000 to $185,000 at the beginning of what some residents termed a return to recession drew criticism from residents. “This is not the time to be giving anybody a raise,” said Roger Wiegand, who regularly attends council meetings. The resident praised Councilman Paul Aronsohn for pointing out the salary increase resolution, which was part of the consent agenda – a series of items that are voted without public discussion. “My Social Security is fixed. My pension is fixed. We have to pay the taxes or we lose the house,” Wiegand said. “You’re not thinking about the taxpayer. I’m not faulting Mr. Gabbert. He’s probably doing an excellent job and I guess you want to keep him, but if he wants to go somewhere else, that’s the way the cookie crumbles. At that kind of salary, you’ll have plenty of applicants for the job.” Several residents noted that the issue is not personal, but argued that Ridgewood, which laid off 34 employees last year due to economic constraints, was not in a position to give any employee a 12 percent raise, especially when his salary is already substantial. James Bombace, a former fire chief, said he could not support Gabbert’s salary increase. Richie Herink, a retired executive who said he once worked for IBM and Western Electric, had no quibbles with Gabbert’s qualifications, but strongly objected to a major raise in the present economy. “I saved (Western Electric) hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars, and I did not get a raise for it -- it was part of my job,” Herink said. “We are going into an economic collapse. I think he may be worth the money, but a 12 percent salary increase is incomprehensible.” Councilman Aronsohn, who voted against the increase, convinced the majority of the council to pluck the salary increase out of the consent agenda, and urged that the debate and vote be postponed for a few weeks because so many residents are out of town in mid-August. The other council members agreed to the debate, but not to the postponement. Aronsohn said he was satisfied with most of what Gabbert had done when he took over the reins in the middle of a recession, but said he could not understand the concept of layoffs for the rank-and-file employees, increases of two to four percent for union members, merit increases for department heads, and a 12 percent increase for the village manager. “These are tough times,” Aronsohn said. “A 12 percent increase in salary -- this might be unprecedented, not just in New Jersey, but in the entire nation. A lot of people today are working harder for the same salary, sometimes less. People are downsized, people are unemployed…I fundamentally disagree with this increase.” Councilwoman Bernadette Walsh and Councilman Stephen Wellinghorst said the decision did not require public input because the council members had been elected to represent the residents, and the voters could replace them at election time if the public disagreed with the council members’ day-to-day decisions. Deputy Mayor Thomas Riche said Gabbert had saved Ridgewood hundreds of thousands of dollars by negotiating down expenses, and said he supported the manager’s pay increase. He added that seven of the employees who had been laid off had been rehired due to Gabbert’s capable administration. Mayor Keith Killion said he would have supported a zero increase for everybody on the village payroll, but added that he also supported the increase for Gabbert because Gabbert had done a good job in tough times. Riche then passed Killion a paper indicating that the actual raise for Gabbert was 7.3 percent, rather than 12 percent, but Aronsohn stood by his numbers and said that 12 percent, based on the fact that Gabbert’s salary increase would be retroactive to Jan. 1, is the correct figure. “This isn’t a 12 percent a year increase,” Mayor Killion argued. “Thirteen months,” the councilman said. Mayor Killion and Aronsohn agreed to disagree on the increase. Gabbert did not directly defend his raise, but in commenting on an agenda item, he pointed out that he had garnered $320,000 for Ridgewood by one single negotiation. (continued on page 6)