Vows to pass on $56K in perks to respect taxpayers, calls extra cash ‘obscene’
By JOSH RESNEK
Mayoral candidate Fred Capone has called the $40,000 yearly longevity payment to the mayor “pure greed” and promised he will not take such a payment or an additional $6,000 car allowance the mayor presently receives.
Capone referred to the mayor’s car allowance as “added insult to injury” and “represents excessive compensation.”
‘There should be no mayoral longevity payment at all, The amount is grossly out of line compared to other city employees and is nothing short of obscene,” he wrote in an Op-Ed piece appearing in this edition of the Leader Herald.
A motion brought before the city council last week by Capone to repeal the mayor’s longevity pay was sent to committee by the council which dared not to discuss the matter lest the fury of the mayor should be incited.
Capone and Councilors at Large Mike Marchese and John Hanlon did not vote to send the measure to committee.
The future of Capone’s measure to repeal the longevity payment to the mayor is uncertain.
“If elected mayor,” he wrote, “I will not seek longevity pay or the car allowance.”
The mayor presently receives a salary of about $200,000, longevity pay of $40,000, and a car allowance. He also has taken about 90 days of vacation while at the same time spending very little time at city hall claiming, “I can run everything with my cell phone.”
“I promise to earn every penny of the $200,000 mayoral salary,” Capone wrote in the Op-Ed.
The present payment of $40,000 made to the mayor is a concoction of CFO Eric Demas and the mayor.
“This payment was buried in the annual budget rather than full disclosure,” Capone wrote. “It appears others share my opinion,” he added.
“The reward for a mayoral job well done is re-election, not an annual windfall added to a $200,000 base salary,” Capone wrote.