The Middlesex County Improvement Authority paid four top executives, including the executive director, substantial incentive bonuses though the extra payments were not part of any employment agreement, the state comptroller has found.
Top among the bonuses paid was an additional $55,000 payment in 2010 to Executive Director Richard Pucci. The 30 percent bonus, along with a $4,800 car allowance and $3,565 in unused sick time boosted Pucci’s 2010 salary from the authority to $249,366. Pucci also is Mayor of Monroe Township.
In total, the bonuses to the top four executives totaled more than $100,000 per year and were paid over and above an annual 2.5 percent raise paid to three of the employees.
“Even at the height of the economic recession, the MCIA awarded its top officials not only their contractual salary increase, but additional unsubstantiated bonuses worth 10, 15, even 30 percent of their salary,” said State Comptroller Matthew Boxer in a statement accompanying the report.
According to Pucci and other officials, the bonuses were based on performance criteria, though Boxer found no evidence of any written evaluation for Pucci, who responded that the evaluation was done verbally.
Written evaluations for the other three top executives “did not reflect any measurable performance criteria tied to MCIA’s goals.”
Instead, according to Boxer, the evaluations consisted of criteria including “interacts well with others” and “maintains a proper appearance.”
“Criteria like ‘interacts well with others’ and ‘understands and follows instructions’ are not sufficient justification for the payment of more than $100,000 in yearly bonuses to the upper management of a government agency,” Boxer said.
Boxer’s review also found issues with the awarding of contracts. According to the report, the agency’s contracting criteria included the requirement that the vendor have “knowledge of the Authority and its operations,” which Boxer called easily manipulated.
Of the nine contracts reviewed, all nine were awarded to vendors that had previously done business with the authority. In six instances, only one vendor responded to the request for proposals and in two of the other three instances, a second vendor was immediately disqualified based on their lack of knowledge of the authority, Boxer found.
In addition, Boxer found that the agency’s attorney is improperly receiving health benefits from the MCIA. The agency has referred the attorney to the state Division of Pensions to review pension credits received from the MCIA.
The audit also questioned whether the MCIA needed both an insurance consultant and an insurance producer as the agency listed the exact same qualifications for both positions. Boxer’s office found that the consultant did not submit invoices for the exact work performed.
In response to the additional bonuses, the MCIA brass responded that the payments are authorized by the agency’s Personnel Committee and are part of the annual budget approved by the agency’s board.
“These four employees make up the core of the MCIA’s top executives and their record of performance has been exceptional,” the agency said in its response. “The compensation they receive is justified by the MCIA’s record of achievements, as outlined in the MCIA Historical Performance section of this report.”
The response includes an evaluation of Pucci by the board chairman, who calls the executive director one of the few executives capable of building the agency to its current status.
“The Executive Director is a unique leader, who does not come along often, especially in the public sector,” the evalutaion from board chairman Leonard Roseman said. “His performance, including the millions of dollars his leadership has saved County taxpayers, more than justifies the compensation he receives.”
