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Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop

(Jersey Journal file photo)

Is Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop flip-flopping on deferring retirement costs?

Fulop, who was elected mayor on July 1, attacked his predecessor, former Mayor Jerramiah Healy, last year when Healy asked to borrow $9.5 million to pay for costs associated with a large number of city workers retiring.

At the time, Fulop, who represented Ward E on the City Council, said it is "bad public policy" to borrow for retirement costs. Twice, Fulop and his allies on the council blocked the Healy administration from moving forward with the plan, and suggested the administration pay for the $9.5 million outright instead by selling property.

“My proposal would not increase taxes and not sink the city further into debt and saddle future generations with expenses they didn’t incur and won’t benefit from,” he said then.

Flash forward to this week’s council meeting, when the new council, dominated by Fulop allies, is set to introduce an ordinance authorizing the city to ... borrow $9.5 million to pay for costs associated with city workers retiring.

The figure first popped up in July as a “deferred” charge in the city’s $516 million budget. Asked about it then, city spokeswoman Jennifer Morrill indicated that Fulop’s position hadn’t changed.

"Last year, then Councilman Fulop supplied an alternative plan rather than bond, and that is what he will continue to do as mayor when options exist," Morrill said then. "Up until now, there has been zero discussion on floating bonds for retirement."

Today, hours before the council is set to vote on authorizing $9.5 million in borrowing, Morrill threw some blame on officials from the prior administration.

"The mayor and the City Council presented a plan last year in place of bonding, however, after Mayor Fulop won the election there was a large number of Healy supporters who retired collecting massive payments," Morrill said. "After exploring legal options, the administration is pursuing this measure so those retirements don't cause a tax increase."

But if borrowing to pay for retirement costs was bad policy under Mayor Healy, isn’t it bad policy under Mayor Fulop?

"It was not ideal then and it is not ideal now,” Morrill said. “We were given a gift by Mayor Healy's people of millions of dollars in retirement payouts. We tried everything possible to stop it, but this is a last resort so we can avoid a tax increase."

Healy chuckled when he heard that Fulop has “come around to doing things” Healy’s way.

“Better late than never,” the former mayor said.

Tonight’s council meeting starts at 6 p.m. at City Hall, 280 Grove St.