Ex-Paterson mayor got pension and salary, plus an extra $40K for vacation days

Joe Malinconico | Paterson Press

Show Caption Hide Caption Farewell surprise party for Jane Williams-Warren, Paterson's acting mayor Paterson's acting mayor Jane Williams-Warren arrives at the surprise party in her honor.

PATERSON – During her 264 days as Paterson’s mayor, Jane Williams-Warren continued receiving her $8,123 monthly pension payments while she collected her $119,000 salary as the city’s top executive, according to public records.

Williams-Warren also is receiving $40,552 for 92 vacation days, a retroactive payment that city officials approved two days before she left office in June, according to public records.

Last October, a week before she took office, Williams-Warren had been quoted in a news story saying she would not continue taking her pension while she was paid her mayoral salary.

“That's something I would never do," Williams-Warren said in a story by Paterson Press. "There's a right way and wrong way to do things. I intend to stop the pension."

But records from the state pension system obtained this week by Paterson Press show Williams-Warren continued getting her retirement checks for the duration of her stint as mayor. When asked about the pension payments on Wednesday, the former mayor said her previous comments about her pension had been misconstrued.

“At the time you asked me, I did not know if I had to stop the pension,” said Williams-Warren. “That was my intent, if I had to stop the pension I would have no problem doing it.”

The former mayor said she continued collecting her retirement checks after she learned from state officials that New Jersey law allowed her to do so. When asked why she never clarified her pension situation after it was reported in news articles, Williams-Warren said, “I guess I should have called and said something to you. I just didn’t think of it.”

“It was never my intention to deceive anyone,” she added.

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Williams-Warren, who was born in 1947, had worked for the city for almost five decades, including a prolonged stint as city clerk, before she retired in January 2015 and began getting her $97,500 annual pension. At the time of her retirement, her salary was $115,501, according to public records.

Widely respected among Paterson community leaders and political figures, Williams-Warren was drafted by the city council last fall to serve as fill-in mayor for almost nine months after Jose “Joey” Torres was forced out of the job when he was convicted of corruption charges.

Williams-Warren’s performance as mayor drew widespread praise from council members who normally don’t agree on many things. Community leaders even threw her an outdoor party at Eastside Park on June 30, her last day in office.

"You took office at a very difficult time in Paterson's history and you made the most of it," the current mayor, Andre Sayegh, said at the party. "You leave all of us a legacy of integrity."

Sayegh on Thursday declined to comment on Williams-Warren’s pension situation. “Jane rendered exemplary service during her short time as mayor,” he said.

Several other council members also declined to comment on the former mayor’s pension situation. Council members said Williams-Warren never told them directly that she would forgo her pension while mayor, but that they only knew what they read in the news.

“If the state says she was allowed to do it, then I can’t question it,” said Councilman Michael Jackson.

In New Jersey, it’s a somewhat common practice for people to retire from one government job and then land another – collecting their pensions and salaries at the same time.

Meanwhile, Sayegh on Thursday said he has not been able to determine the basis for the $40,552 retroactive payment for Williams-Warren. Paterson Press initially asked Sayegh about the payment on Tuesday. Council members said they were unaware of it.

“I didn’t know about that,” said Councilman Ruby Cotton.

“This is the first I’m hearing about it,” said Councilman Shahin Khalique.

A Paterson personnel transaction form, the municipal record that authorized the retroactive payment for Williams-Warren, cited a city provision entitling employees hired prior to 1980 to get 30 vacation days after 25 years of service. The form indicates Williams-Warren was owed four additional vacation days for each of her final 23 years on the city payroll, or a total of 92.

Williams-Warren said that at some point prior to her retirement the city increased the number of vacation days from 26 to 30 for pre-1980 employees with 25 years’ service. But the extra days had not been credited to her personnel records.

Williams-Warren said that when she retired in January 2015 she thought the amount of the check she received for unused leave time was lower than it should have been. She said she had called City Hall several times back then to clarify the amount of the payment.

“Nobody called me back,” she said, “so I just let it go.” At the time, she explained, some of her family members were seriously ill.

Williams-Warren said the $40,552 represented the money she should have gotten more than three years ago, when she originally retired. She also said she thought it should be noted that when she took the city’s top job last October she found that her predecessor had already spent all of the mayor’s expense account.

As a result, she said, she used her own money to buy tickets for various events and functions she attended as mayor.