Board strips Scarpelli's pension, health benefits
Suspension could be permanent after his sentencing on May 29
BY PATRICIA A. MILLER
Staff Writer

It took members of the state pension board five minutes behind closed doors to decide to suspend former Brick Township Mayor Joseph C. Scarpelli's pension benefits.

And Scarpelli will have to wait until after his May 29 sentencing in federal court to learn if he will ever be able to pocket the pension he accrued over almost 29 years of public service.

The board of trustees of the state Public Employees Retirement System voted on Feb. 20 to strip Scarpelli of both his pension money and health benefits.

"The director said the board had looked at the nature and the severity of the offense and felt this was the proper action to take," said Mark Perkiss, a spokesman for the state treasury department.

The former mayor, who was elected to an unprecedented fourth term in 2005, pleaded guilty in federal court in January to accepting bribes from an unknown developer.

Scarpelli began receiving $1,825 a month in pension benefits on Jan. 1, 2006, when he retired from the PERS pension system. At that time, he had 28 years and one month of service, Perkiss said.

"As an elected official, you can retire from other public service and start receiving your pension, and continue on as a paid elected official," he said.

The pension board has the discretion to reinstate or permanently remove the pension.

"There are set criteria they must look at," Perkiss said. "Was there a sentence of prison time, how severe was that ... you can't even start until you know the answer to that question. As a practical matter, nothing can happen until sometime after sentencing."

Scarpelli's lawyer, Michael T. Nolan Jr., a member of Kelly, Nolan and White, Brick, said he was not surprised by the board's decision.

"I was unhappy with the decision," he said. "I was disappointed with their decision. I had hoped the outcome would have been different."

The suspension imposes a hardship on both Scarpelli and his wife, Nolan said.

"He has limited sources of income," he said. "He and his wife rely substantially on his retirement benefits. The effect is not only on him, more importantly, on his wife, who is an innocent person in all this. It's a tremendous financial burden this will place on them."

Both Scarpelli and his wife have "health issues," Nolan said.

There are health concerns for the both of them, he said.

"Unfortunately, the board just didn't see it that way," he said. "It took them five minutes to make their decision."

Council President Stephen C. Acropolis said he didn't think any elected or appointed official who was found guilty of or pleaded guilty to official misconduct should receive pension benefits funded by taxpayers.

"You have to feel for his family," Acropolis said. "He has grandchildren, he has children. He has a wife. But it's not about Joe Scarpelli. It's about any elected or appointed officials."

Acropolis, a Republican, said he was scoffed at in 2002 when he tried to get the then-Democratic majority council to pass a resolution forbidding any appointed or elected official found guilty of official misconduct or corruption from receiving a pension.

"It didn't go any further than that," he said.

Acropolis also said he thought it was "interesting" that Scarpelli had been collecting pension benefits since January 2006.

"I was surprised, as probably many people were, that he was collecting an income, plus still serving as the mayor during this time of the investigation," he said.