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At last week’s City Council meeting, the members inadvertently came upon another less than transparent ploy out of the mayor’s office. This time it was handing a massive $7,500 raise to Ravi Bhalla’s Chief of Staff (and head face puncher) John Allen.
The discovery comes about with yet another inadvertent financial inquiry, this time by Council VP Ruben Ramos. As seen in the video, the hilarity ensues.
Councilwoman Tiffanie Fisher is taken aback by the news and finds it offensive that
a member of the mayor’s office who organizes political attacks against them at their meetings is seeing the largest pay increase in =&1=& of Hoboken municipal government.
Councilman Peter Cunningham moves to reverse the retroactive increase and Councilman Mike DeFusco blasts the less than transparent action before the entire council shoots it down.
The video concludes with Councilman Cunningham sarcastically noting this less than transparent scheme is worthy of a citywide Nixle alert.
=&2=&: John Allen’s six figure salary of $105,000 is padded $7,500 to =&3=& on the down low by Ravi Bhalla. It’s believed Jason Freeman, the assistant to the Chief of Staff saw an increase with a $10,000 stipend to $90,000.
Last, Vijay Chaudhuri who came in on December 5th also is believed bumped to $95,000 in the new year. He replaces the previous communications manager who was paid $72,500 for a whooping budget busting increase of $22,500.
That brings Ravi Bhalla’s army of face punchers officially near the $300,000 mark just after his first year in office. Former mayor Dawn Zimmer’s first year with one mayoral aide: $35,000. Read More...