Barnegat Township - It is pretty obvious that massive amounts of overtime paid to Chief Edward J. Smith Jr. may have represented another monumental pension scam as well as an opportunity for Smith to put one over on the taxpayers by glomming up $123,025 in overtime payments from 2001 through 2003.

Pensions Are Figured On High Three Years?

Pension payments for most municipal employees are figured on the high three years of total compensation, a loophole which the legislature has kept open to provide pension-padding and salary-enhancing opportunities for professionals with political connections and "executives" with imagination like Smith.

Overtime Increased Exponentially After The Smiths Declared Bankruptcy

According to the Asbury Park Press, Smith and his wife declared bankruptcy in December of 2000, a year when he received $6656 in overtime in addition to his salary of  nearly $100,000, so the exponentially expanded overtime payments during the next three years probably came in handy - for Smith, but perhaps not for his creditors, who were apparently told to get lost by the bankruptcy court.

Extending credit to the police chief in Barnegat Township may be a very speculative and risky proposition.

8300 Barnegat Seniors Did Not Declare Bankruptcy Or Get $123,000 In Overtime, But They Got A 1.5% Social Security Increase

By contrast, about 8300 senior citizens in Barnegat Township did not declare bankruptcy at all, but their care and prudence resulted in social security payment increases of nearly 1.5% this year, almost $250 extra for the year for the average social security recipient.

Seniors, All Taxpayers, Should Be Happy To Contribute

So the seniors - and other Barnegat taxpayers - shouldn't complain about forking over the latest series of property tax increases in Barnegat, a portion of which were earmarked to fund Chief Smith's overtime and pension contributions.

Township Committee Never Told The Taxpayers About Smith Scam

The Barnegat Township Committee apparently never told the public they authorized huge amounts of overtime for Smith, and they never told anybody the practice is not common among New Jersey municipalities because superior officers are not supposed to collect overtime except in extraordinary circumstances, and even then, on a very limited basis.

The Barnegat Township Committee apparently also never told the public the overtime payments to Smith may have gone directly into pension calculations which could add more than 25% to Smith's pension.

$500,000 Pension Bonus For Smith?

So the taxpayers may have been ripped off by the Smith pension-overtime extravaganza with a double dose of extra costs: if Smith is allowed to collect an overtime-expanded pension for twenty-five years, the $123,000 in overtime payments will produce an extra pension component of more than $500,000, an additional annuity which is rendered with the compliments of Barnegat taxpayers.

SmithScam Not Unique

The sad thing is that Smith's little pension-overtime adventure with taxpayers money is not unique, and is not even close to being the most extreme example of this kind of virtual corruption.

There May Be Worse Examples

There may be worse examples in places like Seaside Heights, Stafford Township, the Dover Sewer Authority, the Ocean County Utilities Authority and even (perish the thought) in the dark recesses of the county government and related agencies, where similar pension scams, excessive compensation gimmicks, over-billing by professionals, and even double dipping on taxpayer-funded health insurance policies may have added $$Millions to the tax and sewer bills of county residents.

Smith Pocket Change May Be Small Consolation To Barnegat Taxpayers

In comparison with the cost of some of these schemes, Chief Smith's pension and overtime bonanza may be pocket change, even though that may be small consolation to Barnegat taxpayers, including the senior citizens mentioned above, who may not enjoy being screwed even a little bit by their own local government.

Resident Pecci Says Smith Overtime Payments Are "Truly Amazing"

The Asbury Park Press, which broke the story on Chief Smith, quoted Barnegat resident Frank Pecci as saying that administrators should not get overtime.

"He shouldn't be getting overtime. There is no reason for him to get overtime. That's truly amazing," Mr. Pecci was quoted by the Press.

More Soon On OCP

More on the Smith overtime and pension scam scheme - and other demented and radical plots against good public policy on OCP as the days & weeks move ahead in the panorama of wholesome political intercourse in Ocean County and environs.