Former Mayor Russo removed from health benefits
Mayor Dawn Zimmer’s administration announced last week the removal of former Mayor Anthony Russo from the city’s health benefits plan after it was revealed through an audit that he was still receiving benefits at least five years after they should have stopped.
Anthony Russo is a former Hoboken teacher who was defeated for a third term as mayor in 2001 and pleaded guilty in 2004 to mail fraud for having accepted bribes in office. He was treated for brain and lung cancer during the last year of his term.
Because of his actions in office, the state determined that his mayoral service shouldn’t count toward his pension and benefits. His city health benefits were supposed to be canceled after leaving office, while his pension would merely be reduced. However, he apparently was never removed from the benefits system.
In a letter to the City Council last week, Zimmer said that “Russo did not qualify for these benefits because he did not retire on a disability pension, nor, under any circumstances, obtain twenty five years or more of creditable service with the Public Employees Retirement System.”
Zimmer said she was not sure why an earlier check by former state-appointed Hoboken finance official Judy Tripodi failed to turn up the information, as it did with a handful of other former employees who were unfairly receiving city benefits. She also said the city would not do an investigation to see why Russo remained on the benefits roster, but that it was the responsibility of city officials at that time to remove him.
Zimmer said the city is “in the process of calculating the cost of those improperly paid benefits and will evaluate whether or not it is appropriate to take legal steps to be repaid.”
The announcement became political fodder last week. Greg Lincoln, a resident allied with Zimmer, is running in the May 10 council election against Russo’s son Michael, the incumbent 3rd Ward councilman. Lincoln questioned why Russo, who had spoken out against other people who were still inappropriately receiving city benefits, did not mention his father.
Russo responded in a statement saying: “In 2008, I called for an audit to be conducted to determine how many former city employees were receiving health benefits without qualifying for them. At the time, Judy Tripodi, the state-appointed fiscal monitor, conducted an investigation and removed several individuals she determined to be unqualified. As the video footage of the meeting shows, then-councilwoman Dawn Zimmer sits silently while I ask questions about the audit. Now, after 19 months as mayor, Dawn Zimmer determines that, two months before an election, she will release the results of a targeted audit that found one individual, in the hopes of scoring political points two days before a $250 a person fundraiser.”
When asked if he knew his father was receiving health benefits from the city, Russo said, “According to the audit I asked for, and was presented to the council by Ms. Tripodi, she removed several people from the list. The former mayor was not one of them, so I, and the rest of the council, assumed that everyone not removed from the list, was receiving their benefits properly. I’d like to see the ‘audit’ conducted by the mayor. What was the rationale for ordering it 19 months after taking office?”
Zimmer said that after the city’s business administrator, Arch Liston, got his job, he reviewed city records and discovered that Russo and another former city employee were still getting health benefits they should not have been.
Zimmer declined to release the name of the other person, but confirmed that the person was not an elected official.
Zimmer said that after Liston did his research, the city had conversations with Russo and the other person to make them aware that they were not eligible for the benefits. Russo was given time to appeal the determination, which he did. He lost the appeal and was removed at the beginning of this month.
Bank, jewelry store robbed
Valley National Bank near River and Third streets in Hoboken was robbed at approximately 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday, according to local reports.
A female suspect passed a note to the teller and fled with the money, according to the report. The bank is approximately two blocks from the Hoboken Police Department.
According to a separate report from a local news website, approximately $3,000 was stolen from a Newark Street diamond store in an armed robbery on Tuesday morning.
Chabad to hold ‘Grand Purim Party’ on March 20
Chabad of Hoboken’s annual Grand Purim Party will be held at the Elks Club, 1005 Washington St. on March 20.
The 2011 theme is “Purim in Candyland” and will feature food, cotton candy, popcorn, treats, and entertainment for the kids. Adults will be treated to sushi and an open bar.
Doors open at 3 p.m. The reading of the Megillah will commence at 3:30 pm, followed by a buffet dinner, music, dancing, and traditional hamentashen.
For more information, visit www.JewishHoboken.com or call (201) 386-5222. The price is $25 per adult and $10 per child/Stevens student.