By PETE WALTON
The Neptune City Borough Council has introduced an ordinance establishing salary ranges for municipal employees.
A public hearing on the ordinance is scheduled for the council’s Dec. 11 meeting.
The ordinance does not set salaries for specific employees, and not every post listed will necessarily be filled, according to Borough Administrator Henry Underhill.
“We are only amending half a dozen ranges,” Underhill said.
There is at least one new position on the list, that of assistant to the finance officer, with a pay range of $2,000 to $4,000. Underhill said an assistant is needed in order to perform day-to-day functions such as bank transfers.
The administrator said that Chief Financial Officer William Antonides is only in the office one day a week.
Several of the positions such as assistant to the finance officer will be filled by borough employees who take on added responsibilities.
Underhill said that the position of deputy tax collector, at a salary of $50 per hour, will no longer be filled as of 2018 as a full-time tax collector will be in place. The tax collector’s salary range is from $40,000 to $55,000.
Responding to a question from a resident at the council’s meeting earlier this week, Mayor Robert J. Brown said it is possible that one individual could serve in as many as four different positions included in the range ordinance.
None of the new ranges will affect 2017 pay rates, the mayor said.
Councilwoman Pamela Renee, who chairs the special services committee, said she will look into having the borough qualify for bronze status in the state’s Sustainable Jersey program. She said the borough already complies with many of the criteria established by the program.
Renee said the special services committee will meet on Dec. 11 at 6 p.m., prior to the council’s next regular meeting.
Councilman Joseph Zajack, chairman of the administration of justice committee, said that the borough’s Neighborhood Watch organization would meet in council chambers Dec. 6 at 7 p.m.
Resident John Gunderson asked the council to consider opting out of Monmouth County’s controversial tax reassessment pilot program at its next opportunity.
Gunderson said he understood that under the program, only 20 percent of borough properties would be reevaluated each year. Gunderson said the assessed value of his properties has increased over each of the last four years.
Brown said that 20 percent of borough properties are physically reinspected each year, but that valuations can change for other reasons, such as improvements and sales of comparable homes.
“I think it’s a bad program,” Gunderson said. “I hope you opt out of it.”