Politics & Government
Fanwood Officials Have Yet to Comment on Pension Investigation
A report from the state comptroller shows that 202 independent contractors from 58 municipalities, including Fanwood, should have been removed from the state's pension fund.
More than 200 independent contractors in the state have been illegally clocking hours toward their pension and benefits since 2008, according to a report released last Tuesday.
State Comptroller Matthew Boxer issued the findings of an investigation of 58 municipalities and school districts that found 57 of them -- including the Borough of Fanwood-- failed to remove private and independent contractors from the pension system.
The 58 public entities reviewed are only a fraction however of the 515 municipalities and 597 school districts in the state.
Find out what's happening in Scotch Plains-Fanwoodwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
The investigation found that there were 202 people enrolled in the pension system, and recommended to the Division of Pensions and Benefits to review and remove them.
A 2007 law identified that individuals are ineligible for state pension credits and benefits if they are an independent contractor or retained through the public contracting process. Individuals should have been taken out of the system by 2008.
Find out what's happening in Scotch Plains-Fanwoodwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Those 202 people illegally enrolled in the pension system consisted of 176 attorneys, 21 engineers, four heath care providers, and one auditor, according to Boxer's report. In addition, each of those enrollees appears to be employed at or operating a private firm.
The cost to the state is estimated to be $1.9 million per year in pension benefits.
Ironically in some cases, local governments were advised to keep their attorney in the pension system based on the legal advice of the same attorney whose pension eligibility was in question.
“Government officials should not be relying on pension eligibility advice from the very attorney whose eligibility is at issue,” Boxer wrote in the press release. “That just flies in the face of common sense.”
While the issue was raised at the Borough Council meeting last Tuesday, Borough Attorney Dennis Estis said the Borough received no information from the state as to whether they consider Fanwood to be in violation.
Estis said the Borough was still looking into the issue at that time and hoped to have answers within the next few days.
At the time of this posting, despite reaching out to several Fanwood officials, they have yet to further comment on the Borough's involvement in the investigation.
