Brick Municipal Building / Photo: Daniel Nee
Brick is saving up for a snowy day – as well as a rainy day.
At its Dec. 31 township council meeting, the governing body voted unanimously to set transfer $900,000 each to two trust funds – one which acts as a bank for snow emergencies and another that saves money due to employees upon retirement.
“We had a situation back in 2010, we didn’t have anything in the trust fund, and it was a trying time to come up with money to pay for it,” said Mayor John Ducey, referring to the Dec. 26, 2010 blizzard which crippled the township and cost taxpayers more than $1 million.
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The snow emergency account can also be used in a limited number of other circumstances, such as cleanup costs after a storm that does not necessarily include snow, but cannot be used for any other purpose.
The remaining $900,000 is to be used toward payouts due to employees upon retirement for unused sick and vacation time.
“We’re trying to be financially responsible in Brick, because those payouts are happening no matter what,” said Ducey.
During the 2015 budget year, the township owed a total of $7,229,561 in total employee “absence liability,” the state’s term for the payouts. That figure represents the total owed to all employees after their careers end – not those who retired in a single year.
