State slashes benefits for Scarpelli
Former longtime mayor to pay back $20,000
BY PATRICIA A. MILLER Staff Writer
FormerBrickTownshipDemocraticMayor JosephC. Scarpelli will have a lot less to live on when he gets out of federal prison sometime in 2009.

The State Division of Pension and Benefits board cut Scarpelli's monthly retirement pension payment to a sixth of what he had been receiving, before his benefits were suspended last year. Scarpelli pleaded guilty in federal court in January 2007 to accepting bribes from an unnamed developer.

Pension board members ordered a partial forfeiture of Scarpelli's years of service and salary at the Feb. 19 board meeting. Scarpelli will now receive $333.44 a month, compared to the $1,825.41 he received each month before he pleaded guilty to corruption charges, said Tom Vincz, a state pension board spokesman.

The board gave Scarpelli 10 years to pay back $20,887 in benefits he received over the last two years, Vincz said.

"He's being ordered to return this $20,000," he said.

Scarpelli began receiving the $1,825-a-month pension benefit payment on Jan. 1, 2006, when he retired from the state Public Employment Retirement System (PERS). At that time, he had 28 years and one month of service in the pension system, according to the state pension board.

Scarpelli lost his service benefit years from 1998 until January 2006 and had the benefit amount cut, Vincz said.

Republican Mayor Stephen C. Acropolis said he didn't think public officials found guilty of official misconduct should be entitled to any pension benefits.

"I don't know how they [pension board] arrived at that," the mayor said. "If you have official misconduct involved, you shouldn't get anything."

Acropolis said he was rebuffed in 2001, when he tried to get the then-Democratic majority Township Council to pass a resolution a resolution forbidding any appointed or elected official found guilty of officialmisconduct or corruption fromreceiving pension benefits. He also said there should be no statute of limitations for public officials'misconduct.

"It's amazing to me how people agree with it now," he said. "Pensions should be affected. Unfortunately, the only thing most people listen to are financial incentives or a financial deterrent. That's the key. Where were these people when I was talking about this seven years ago?"

Acropolis said the township might consider a civil lawsuit similar to one Marlboro officials discussed last year, to recoup some of the money the township paid Scarpelli during the years he pleaded guilty to accepting bribes.

"We are going to look at any and all avenues we think may be appropriate for the taxpayers," the mayor said. "Anything that benefits the taxpayers, we are going to look at. The taxpayer should not have to pay twice. We've already paid a corruption tax. We shouldn't have to pay a pension."

Scarpelli was first enrolled in the state pension system in September 1977, as a Brick Township Councilmember, Vincz said.

Vincz said he did not know whether Scarpelli had retained any health-care benefits.

"The pension board has nothing to do with health benefits," he said. "It can only make adjustments to the salary and service."

Scarpelli, who was elected to an unprecedented four terms as mayor, is now serving an 18-month sentence in the federal Bureau of Prisons'minimum-security facility at Fort Dix. The formermayor pleaded guilty on Jan. 8, 2007, to one count of accepting and agreeing to accept cash payments in exchange for official action. He admitted he took at least $5,000 in bribes froman unnamed developer between 1998 and 2003.Authorities have not released the developer's name, which concernsAcropolis.

"Who is the developer that bribed the mayor?" he said. "We don't know.Arewe still doing business with this person? We don't know."

The state pension board suspended Scarpelli's benefits back in February 2007, after he pleaded guilty.