HOBOKEN – The third time was the charm for Mayor Dawn Zimmer on Wednesday night, as the City Council — including the five Zimmer-allied council members and three of the anti-Zimmer majority members — finally voted to approve line item transfers within the current city budget to keep the city paying its bills.
However, the council had a controversial discussion about the fact that as part of the line item transfers, the mayor’s confidential aide received an $11,000 bump in salary – the second raise for the employee during his tenure, since 2009. Dan Bryan will now earn $65,000 per year. He was a young Zimmer campaign worker who was hired to be her aide after she took office.
Most salaried employees at City Hall earn between $30,000 and $55,000 each year.
At the meeting, Councilwoman Theresa Castellano said, “I guess this individual is a very loyal soldier and he gets rewarded.”
“There are a lot of people in this city concerned with [someone] getting [two] raises,” said Councilman Michael Russo, who eventually voted yes on the transfers.
Council President Ravinder Bhalla, a Zimmer ally, said that under the administration of Russo’s father, Anthony Russo, the mayor’s confidential aide earned $70,000 annually. “This individual makes $65,000 [now], less than the same person in that position 18 years ago,” Bhalla said.
Michael Russo then said that under his father’s administration, the mayor had three directors, not the eight that the city currently employs.
Russo also called the administration and the majority council members “clowns” during the argument.
Zimmer provided the council with thousands of pages of documents, she said, to explain the transfer of funds before the meeting. Apparently, the documents were sufficient enough for (most of) Zimmer’s council foes to vote to approve the transfers.
The line item transfers needed a supermajority, or six of nine votes, to pass. Councilwoman Beth Mason was the lone no vote on the transfers on Wednesday.
Former council candidate Perry Belfiore said he was concerned about the precedent being set by transferring $2 million in the budget, calling it “an alarming” number.
But Scott Siegel, another resident, urged the council to vote yes, and said line item transfers are routine in other towns.
Zimmer’s foes defended their decision to hold off on voting yes until Wednesday night.
“A lot of the questions are answered now because we asked the questions,” said Councilwoman Theresa Castellano, who up until Dec. 7 voted against the line item transfers. Zimmer’s foes had complained about a lack of information being provided about the transfers.
The line item transfers eventually passed by the 8-1 vote. Zimmer said before the meeting that if the transfers were not approved, the city would not be able to pay bills, including salaries for firefighters. – Ray Smith