Gov. Phil Murphy on Wednesday night defended replacing the longtime chef at New Jersey’s official governor’s mansion in Princeton with a restaurant owner making a taxpayer-funded salary that’s $40,000 more than his predecessor.

Murphy stressed during his call-in radio show that there are actually two new staff members at the mansion, known as Drumthwacket — the chef and a property manager — that softens the hit to taxpayers.

“The chef is more experienced and is doing more and is gonna cost a little bit more than his predecessor,” the Democratic governor said during the show on WBGO in Newark. “The property manger is also gonna do a little bit more, and she is costing less than the last person in that position.”

Drumthwacket is a historic, taxpayer-funded mansion that all New Jersey governors can live in and use for public events.

NJ Advance Media reported last week that Murphy’s administration hired Cesare De Chillies, executive chef and owner at B2 Bistro + Bar in Red Bank, for a new, $110,000-a-year position to replace the chef who had worked at the mansion for nearly 17 years.

Murphy’s administration said De Chillies will do more than his predecessor.

"The job no longer consists of solely cooking, but has been expanded to include coordination and development of additional programming,” Murphy spokeswoman Alexandra Altman said.

While De Chillies’ restaurant is located just two miles from Murphy’s Middletown home, Altman also said the new chef is not a personal friend of the governor’s but was referred by a mutual contact.

Meanwhile, De Chillies’ fiancée, and now wife, Jessie Drescher, was hired to be Drumthwacket’s residence director, whose job is to manage staff and events.

Drescher makes a taxpayer-funded salary of $70,000 — about $12,000 less than the person who had that role under former Gov. Chris Christie earned and $27,000 less than the person she originally replaced after Murphy took office.

Murphy’s administration said Drescher’s salary was intentionally “lowered to reflect the shift in responsibilities” of the executive chef and “keep taxpayer cost down.”

This all comes as Drumthwacket has seen at least $862,000 in taxpayer-funded repairs and renovations since Murphy took office.

Murphy, a multimillionaire former Wall Street executive, lives with his wife, First Lady Tammy Murphy, and his family at their private mansion in Middletown. But the Murphys plan to move into Drumthwacket in 2021, the administration said.

The vast majority of the repairs to Drumthwacket are routine, considering the house has portions dating to the 1830s.

“It’s not an easy lift in terms of making sure it stays in shape,” Murphy said Wednesday.

The governor also noted that Drumthwacket has more importance these days since Christie closed the executive wing of the Statehouse in Trenton for $300 million in repairs that could last until 2022.

Murphy said the mansion is the main place for class tours that want to learn about New Jersey’s governor.

“Drumthwacket is the only place that has any majesty for this state,” he said. “We’ve opened this place wide for countless thousands of kids.”

Murphy stressed that he does believe the Statehouse needs to be updated.

“But let’s get some sense of proportion here,” he added. "That money (for Drumthwacket), I promise you, is going to be really well spent. It’s the people’s house, and the people of this state will benefit from it.”

NJ Advance Media staff writer Matt Arco contributed to this report.

Brent Johnson may be reached at bjohnson@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @johnsb01.

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