BAYONNE – Bayonne Mayor James Davis can collect his police department pension while he is serving as the city’s mayor, the state Treasury Department’s Division of Pensions and Benefits has determined, a website reported.
Davis’s police captain pension, reported at more than $100,000 per year, was originally held up following the state board’s approval last year as lawyers reviewed the legality of the decision, according to nj.com.
It was originally uncertain whether Davis would be eligible for his pension while holding office because of a 2012 state rule that prohibits retired public employees from collecting their pensions if they do not wait 180 days before taking another post in the same municipality.
Davis’s attorney, Craig Gumpel, argued last year that the mayor should be able to collect his pension under the doctrine of “incompatibility of office.” He said that by virtue of Davis taking over as mayor it would be incompatible that he could also be a police captain in Bayonne, and that he therefore severed his police department post when he became mayor.
Davis makes $72,000 a year as Bayonne mayor.
Bayonne mayor can collect police pension
