Dozens of officers at the embattled police department in Franklin Township, Somerset County cost taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars over several years by misusing an obscure paid time off policy, NJ Advance Media has learned.

The policy, spelled out in the township’s contract with the officers’ union, is supposed to compensate union officials and their “designees” for time spent conducting union business.

But records show more than half the force logged “union time” — some of them using it for vacations or to attend golf tournament fundraisers.

The practice has cost the township at least $470,000 since 2016, according to an NJ Advance Media analysis of payroll records and state pension data. More than a quarter of the cost came from one officer — the union president.

In a statement provided to the news organization in response to a records request, township officials pledged to reform the “substantial abuse” of the policy that violated the “unambiguous terms” of the contract.

The disclosure comes amid turmoil at the 100-member department, which saw an officer overdose on the job in April followed by the abrupt retirement of the department’s two top officials — Chief Richard Grammar and Capt. Gregory Borlan — and a takeover of the force’s operations by the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office in June.

The township council is expected to vote Tuesday on a proposal to create a new civilian police director position, part of an ongoing effort to overhaul the department.

The policy — which is included in the township’s contract with the Policemen’s Benevolent Association, Local No. 154 — allows a union delegate or “designee” to take paid time off to “conduct PBA business,” including attending local and state union meetings and conferences.

But the records show 59 officers took time off under the program, requesting more than 11,900 hours of paid time. The vast majority, 54, provided no reason for taking hundreds of hours of paid time off. In a few, they provided terse descriptions like “NJSP golf tournament” or “headache.”

One officer, Alexander Sodbinow, entered in “vacation” or “vac” in four time-off requests as his reason for taking a day off for union business, the records show. Sodbinow did not return a request for comment.

The time-off policy also allows the union’s president or a designee to take up to 10 days off per year for union business. But NJ Advance Media’s analysis found the current president, Patrolman Mark Rossman, has taken 229 paid days off since 2016 – costing the town more than a year’s worth of his current $123,228 salary.

Rossman did not return a request for comment from NJ Advance Media. In a joint statement with the state PBA, Rossman said the coverage of the union time off is “misleading” and doesn’t “portray an accurate picture of the positive impact our members have on our community" in the face of an understaffed force.

The state PBA said the approved union time was “authorized and monitored by the administration,” adding that it was used instead of paid overtime for community events and initiatives.

In an unsigned statement, the township officials acknowledged “dozens of officers have used hundreds of days of time” in violation of the contract’s terms.

The statement said that the abuse of the time-off policy was “emblematic of the structural deficiencies within the department that will be corrected by the township council.”

It said that the council’s resolution creating a new civilian public safety director would “enhance public oversight of the department.” The township council plans to vote on a resolution creating the public safety director position at Tuesday’s meeting.

The resolution was met with a harsh rebuke from Freeholder Director Brian Levine, who issued a rare statement Tuesday saying the new position would serve as a political figurehead lacking the authority to make command decisions.

Levine, who was the mayor of Franklin from 2004 to 2014, said the police department is “being undermined by a proposal to insert a politically connected six-figure salaried police director, which will cost the town more money and deliver less service.”

A spokeswoman for the prosecutor’s office declined to comment on the union time issue.

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Alex Napoliello may be reached at anapoliello@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @alexnapoNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.