Rahway mayor triples his own pay after cutting predecessor's salary

RAHWAY – As a councilman, Samson Steinman led the charge to cut the mayor's salary at the time to $21,000.

But now that he is mayor, Steinman is asking that the city council boost his pay by $51,000, for a $72,000 annual salary.

A public hearing and final adoption of the ordinance is scheduled for 7 p.m. May 11 at Rahway City Hall.

The apparent hypocrisy isn't lost on Steinman, who is taking some heat for the decision. But in an interview Wednesday, he said the former mayor was not working for the city full time, which he intends to do after resigning from his position as Bound Brook business administrator, a $45,000 job he has held since January.

The proposed salary would make Steinman among the highest paid mayors of cities this size in Central Jersey. Rahway has more than 28,000 people living in 4 square miles.

In Montgomery, Mayor Christine Madrid earns $5,006. Bernards Mayor John Malay gets $6,000. Princeton Mayor Liz Lempert recently got her pay raised to $17,500. And North Plainfield Mayor Michael Giordano Jr. receives no salary at all.

Steinway would make almost as much as Woodbridge Mayor John McCormac, who earns $86,000 to help manage a township that's more than five times the size of Rahway.

"It's way out of line," said resident Patrick Cassio, a former Republican mayoral candidate who pointed out that Westfield's mayor gets only a single dollar while Union Township's mayor gets $19,000. Cassio said Steinman also has use of a city vehicle and health coverage.

"$72,000 is a generous salary," he said. "Nothing he is doing rates that kind of pay."

Steinman said he's looking to devote full-time hours to the mayor's position while also eliminating the city's assistant business administrator position, which would save $80,000 a year.

"My heart's here. I spend every single second thinking about the city of Rahway," Steinman said, adding he's on call round the clock.

For example, Steinman said, he responded to a church ceiling collapse on Easter Sunday as well as a 7 a.m. incident Tuesday in which a tractor trailer struck several parked cars.

"I fulfill all the duties of a full time mayor and more," he said.

In the new role Steinman said he will pick up the duties of the assistant business administrator involving personnel, redevelopment, economic development, public works, recreation and other day to day operations of the city. The former assistant business administrator retired earlier this year.

"He knows the city and responsibilities. It's a perfect fit," Rahway Business Administrator Cherron Rountree said .

A generous salary

Bill Dressel, the executive director of the New Jersey League of Municipalities, said there is no standard for a mayor's salary.

"It varies depending on what the mayor and council deem is appropriate for the position. It's purely a local determination as being appropriate pay for the job, duties and responsibilities of the chief executive, the mayor," he said.

Steinman served on the City Council for 10 years being appointed the city's 50th mayor after former Mayor Rick Proctor resigned from office in the September 2013, three years into his first term. Steinman was elected mayor last November.

As a councilman, Steinman was critical of Proctor, a former Union County freeholder, who had a tough term as the city's mayor. At one point Steinman called for Proctor's resignation after Proctor failed to remove himself from a health officer selection process involving his wife.

Council members, led by Steinman, reduced Proctor's salary by 65 percent to $21,000 in late 2011, which Proctor viewed as a calculated effort to drive him from office.

Steinman noted both Proctor and former Mayor James Kennedy had been making about $70,000 but neither served as full time mayors.

Bound Brook Municipal Clerk Donna Marie Godleski said Steinman informed borough officials in early April he would be leaving. Now that the ordinance has been introduced she said Steinman has been asked to officially resign from the borough. She said Steinman had initially planned to stay until the borough found a new administrator.

"We're in the process of looking for new candidates," Godleski said.

Steinman has a master's degree in business administration, and had worked as the Hillside business administrator before coming to Bound Brook. A former Rahway Board of Education member, he previously ran the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission in Rahway and formerly served as executive director of the Union County Performing Arts Center in Rahway.

Staff Writer Suzanne Russell: 732-565-7335; srussell@mycentraljersey.com