At least 85 employees were making more than $100,000, 3 more than $200,000
Commissioner William F. Flynn, left, and Wayne Forrest, the executive director for PVSC listen to Anthony J. Luna, the chairman of PVSC with Carl Czaplicki Jr., the vice chairman of PVS and commissioners CFrank Calandriello and Kenneth Lucianin, right, during a public meeting. The Passaic Valley Sewerage Commissioners is an obscure agency whose payroll is swollen with the friends and family of those with political clout.TRENTON — Less than a week after Gov. Chris Christie fired most of the board members of the Passaic Valley Sewerage Commissioners, the salaries of all employees making over $100,000 today were cut, and sharp restrictions on political activity was put in place.
The moves followed reports in The Sunday Star-Ledger that several officials at the authority were under criminal investigation in connection with allegations that they pressured employees to buy tickets to political fundraisers.
No one has been arrested, and no one has been terminated as of yet. But in a series of executive directives late today, the commission’s executive director, Wayne Forrest immediately ordered the salaries of all employees making over $100,000 be cut to what they were making in 2009.
At least 85 of Passaic Valley’s 567 employees were making more than $100,000 and three were making more than $200,000. Its $46.4 million payroll included spouses and children of commissioners, mayors, councilmen and other elected officials.
Forrest also instituted new ethics rules involving political activity, including forbidding any PVSC employee from serving as a campaign treasurer on any political campaign. The new rules also forbid any political activity at the commission, which had not been specifically prohibited before.
The actions came after a series of stories in The Star-Ledger over the past two weeks documenting widespread patronage and nepotism; lucrative, no-bid consulting contracts; and sweetheart deals for insiders. Christie last week ordered six of seven commissioners overseeing the state’s largest sewage treatment plant to quit their $10,000-a-year posts or face removal for cause, accusing them of using their agency as a “piggy bank” for friends and family.
While there has been growing speculation that some top officials may be fired, Forrest would not comment on what may happen next.
“This is just the beginning. A lot of work needs to be done,” said Forrest.
Passaic Valley, with a $161 million budget, handles the waste of 48 communities in Bergen, Passaic, Hudson and Essex counties. The Star-Ledger reported on Sunday that the agency is now under investigation by the state Attorney General’s office in connection with allegations that tickets for political fundraising events were being sold at the authority on behalf of campaigns by supervisors — contributions that employees were being pressured to make out of fear of retribution.