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A state comptroller's office report issued today found financial "weaknesses" in Harrison's town government.

(Jersey Journal file photo)

Between 2009 and 2011, Harrison paid $21,488 in healthcare premiums for workers who had died, according to a state comptroller audit issued today.

The report also finds that "excessive" benefits packages led to 12 Harrison employees who retired between 2009 and 2011 costing taxpayers about $1.1 million in sick time payouts, with one employee nabbing $200,000.

Similar payouts for unused vacation time cost Harrison taxpayers $950,000, with one employee getting $170,000, the report says. Several firefighters cashed in more than 275 unused vacation days when they retired, according to the report.

These are the highlights of the financial “weaknesses” Acting Comptroller Marc Larkins' office say they found in Harrison, a former industrial mecca on the western edge of Hudson County with a population of 13,620.

When the state office began its audit in 2011, the state Department of Community Affairs had described Harrison as being "in serious financial distress,” leading to $20 million in state aid between 2009 and 2013.

Despite the town's financial problems, the report says, between 2009 and 2011 the town paid employees more than $3 million in longevity pay, 2 to 14 percent bonuses that are given to workers on top of contractual raises and cost-of-living increases. In Harrison, workers can begin receiving longevity pay after only three years

“When a municipality asks for more money from the state and its local taxpayers so it can pay its bills, it must also do whatever it can to place appropriate limits on personnel costs and spending,” Larkins said in a press release. “This audit offers the town of Harrison a sensible plan to save significant dollars for taxpayers.”

Paul J. Zarbetski, Harrison’s town attorney, takes exception to how the report characterized Harrison’s finances.

"A lot of the things that they quote unquote point out in the report are things that we already had on our radar to work on,” Zerbetski told The Jersey Journal. “And a lot of them were already accomplished."

The town is undergoing a transition in political leadership, owing to the unexpected death of its former mayor, Raymond McDonough, who suffered a massive heart attack in Town Hall on Feb. 12. He had been an elected official in the town for 36 years, and mayor for 19.

The council selected James A. Fife, a former Harrison High School principal, to succeed McDonough until Dec. 31. There is a mayoral election in November.

In an unsigned response included with the audit, Harrison objects to the state finding the town’s benefits “excessive” and said that its records showed that only three deceased employees had not been recorded as such.

The OSC report makes 13 recommendations, including creating a specific and consistent payout calculation method for lump sum payouts; periodically requesting an updated list of retirees to make sure the town isn't paying benefits to deceased individuals; and imposing penalties on developers who fail to complete projects in a specific time period.

That last recommendation is in response to Harrison borrowing $40 million in 2006 for a project that was delayed by lawsuits. The town had to borrow again to refinance $6 million in bonds that they had expected would be paid via taxes on the stalled developments, and the second round of borrowing will cost taxpayers an additional $5.1 million, the report says.