McHOSE: JERSEY CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT TEACHES A NEW LESSON: ABUSE TAX DOLLARS, GET REWARDED

LAWMAKER OUTRAGED BY PAY RAISE FOR SUPERINTENDENT EPPSOctober 19, 2006
Assemblywoman Alison Littell McHose/973-726-0954
Assembly Republican Office/609-292-5339

McHOSE: JERSEY CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT TEACHES A NEW LESSON: ABUSE TAX DOLLARS, GET REWARDED

LAWMAKER OUTRAGED BY PAY RAISE FOR SUPERINTENDENT EPPS

Assemblywoman Alison Littell McHose today expressed her outrage that Jersey City Superintendent of Schools and state Assemblyman Charles T. Epps Jr. was given nearly a $10,000 pay raise despite being embroiled in a number of controversies surrounding his excessive taxpayer-funded travel expenses and conflict of interest questions raised by his dual office-holding.

"Every taxpayer in New Jersey should be offended that a man who has abused tax dollars for personal pleasure and who has demonstrated poor judgment on a number of occasions is being rewarded with a pay raise," said McHose, R-Sussex, Morris, and Hunterdon. "How many of our state's residents would get a $10,000 pay hike from their employer for making bad decisions and being investigated for improper conduct?"

According to a story in The Jersey Journal, Epps will be making $9,473 more a year after receiving a 4.5 percent pay boost to $219,993, retroactive to July 1, school officials confirmed this week. Epps, who had been earning $210,520 annually as the district's state-appointed superintendent, receive the raise based on satisfactory performance as determined by the commissioner of Education the contract states.

Earlier this year Epps was ordered to reimburse the state for outlandish personal expenses he incurred while traveling in London as Superintendent of Schools in Jersey City, a state-run school district. Epps used taxpayer dollars to travel to London, stay in luxury hotels, eat in exclusive restaurants, and ride in limousines.

Other questions were raised when it was learned that Epps had contributed from his Assembly campaign account to the campaign account of Jeff Dublin, a Hudson County freeholder who also sits on the Jersey City School Board reviewing Epps' performance.

"The fact that this pay raise was offered with the approval of the state Department of Education is even more offensive," McHose added. "There needs to be better oversight of how state tax dollars are being spent and rewarding public officials who misuse those tax dollars is not the way to achieve that goal."

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