Politics & Government

Button Joins 200-plus Mayors Calling for Benefits Reform

Moorestown Mayor John Button one of 234 mayors to throw their support behind Gov. Christie's call for vacation and sick pay reform.

owes its employees nearly $1 million worth of accumulated vacation and sick time, a fact that has prompted Mayor John Button to join a bipartisan group of mayors across the state who support Gov. Chris Christie’s call for the Legislature to pass sick and vacation pay reform.

According to information provided by the Department of Community Affairs, if all of Moorestown’s employees quit today—without taking their vacation or sick time—the township would owe them $944,334.

Button is one of 234 mayors who have backed up the governor in his push for reform.

“This state is broken … We continue to have a fiscal crisis and people just don’t seem to want to believe it,” Button said.

His support for the governor should not be seen as an attack on municipal workers, the mayor stressed. But reform is necessary because the system can no longer sustain itself.

“I am very sincere when I say we highly value our employees,” he said. “The system led them to believe they would get this benefit … I’m sorry. It just doesn’t work that way in today’s environment.”

Moorestown—which employs 117 people—compares favorably to some of its neighboring towns, like Maple Shade and Mount Laurel, which owe approximately $1.4 million and $2.4 million respectively. Mount Laurel has more than 200 employees, though that includes part-time workers, who do not accumulate vacation or sick time. A call to Maple Shade’s township manager was not immediately returned.

Tom Merchel, Moorestown’s financial officer, said part of the reason for the township’s relatively lower total is that it has been ahead of the curve in terms of controlling its costs. The township imposes a $10,000 cap on sick leave payouts and employees can only carry over accrued vacation time for one year, or they lose it.

Merchel broke down the figure provided by the DCA. He said $449,554 of that is vacation time and $455,746 is accrued sick time. The remaining amount is Social Security and Medicare taxes.

According to the state’s figures, the accumulated balance translates to a $108.33 cost to the average Moorestown taxpayer—again, if every township employee left their post today.

Councilman Chris Chiacchio also expressed his support for the governor's reform push, writing in an email to Moorestown Patch, "Typically an employee loses unused sick time at the end of the year in the private sector. Likewise, township employees should not be permitted to accumulate unused sick days and the township should immediately end the practice of payouts for unused sick days."

The other members of council did not immediately respond to requests for comment. 

Municipalities across the state have accumulated a total of $825 million for unused sick and vacation day benefits, according to the governor’s office.

Find out what's happening in Moorestownwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

“After having specific bills to act on for nearly 19 months, it is past time for the Legislature to stand up and give mayors the tools they are asking for to provide savings to taxpayers, including a complete end to the inexplicable practice of paying scarce taxpayer dollars for unused sick days," Christie said in a statement released by his office. “Like the other tool kit bills, real sick and vacation benefit reform is a common sense reform that has bipartisan support of mayors, local elected officials and lawmakers from communities all across our state.”


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