Bayonne mayor getting $169,000 payout after retiring from police department

BAYONNE — The mayor of a Hudson County city is getting a big payday for his retirement from the police department.

The Hudson County View reported that Bayonne mayor Jimmy Davis, elected in June 2014 and retired from the police force at the rank of captain on June 30, 2014, will receive $168,980.86 compensation for unused time off. That includes:

807.5 hours of banked vacation time
304 sick leave incentive hours
370.5 remain vacation hours
175 hours for terminal hours.
$120,000 police pension

The money will be paid to Davis in three payments of $56,326.96 starting within 60 days of his paperwork being processed. Payments would then be made in each of the next two calendar years.

Ralph Scianni, Bayonne's former police chief received a $444,450.40 payout upon his retirement in 2014 when Davis took office according to NJ.com.

Legislation has failed to cap such large payouts in the past. State Sen. Jennifer Beck in 2014 called on the Legislature to consider a bill she co-sponsoed that would place a $15,000 limit on the payouts to municipal workers. The bill would also have allowed municipal employees to carry forward only one year of vacation time.

During his first term Gov. Chris Christie wanted to end the practice of payouts for unused time completely. He vetoed an earlier measure limiting payouts, saying they should be barred entirely.

“You’ve had multi-million dollar payouts in municipality after municipality, that come from the pockets of the people sitting here and others around the state. What I’ve said, and the proposal I’ve put forward, and I will not compromise on this, is zero means zero," Christie said at a 2013 event in South River.

Contact reporter Dan Alexander at Dan.Alexander@townsquaremedia.com.