As the debate continues over West Windsor council’s salary increase, one minuscule lunch reimbursement voucher has gained attention.##M:[more]##
During the council’s May 19 meeting, Planning Board Chairman Marvin Gardner criticized Councilman Charles Morgan over a reimbursement voucher he submitted for a lunch he and Gardner had in December to discuss redevelopment. Gardner, who said he was surprised to hear that Morgan had submitted the reimbursement voucher, gave Business Administrator Chris Marion a check for $15 to cover his part of the lunch, saying taxpayers shouldn’t have to pay for it.
During an earlier council meeting this month, Morgan referred to the voucher he submitted that still had not been paid as one example of why the council should get rid of what he says was a faulty reimbursement system and instead opt for the raises. One voucher was for a $57 conference call on December 14 in which he was trying to set up a meeting date with the members of the redevelopment finance committee. The second was the voucher and receipt for the lunch at Villa Maria restaurant in Mercerville, on December 11. The bill was for $38.58.
According to a memo sent to the council from the mayor, who also distributed it to the press, the request for the two bills was submitted by Morgan the day after the council passed the threshold resolution and because it was a redevelopment expense, “it is unclear as to how or where it should be charged.” The memo states that once clearer guidelines have been agreed upon and established, the mayor will direct staff to “process this requisition accordingly.” The threshold resolution bars the administration from awarding contracts or making expenditures relating to redevelopment without first going through council.
During the council’s May 19 meeting, however, Gardner said that when he learned of the reimbursement voucher, he first wondered why it was even submitted for reimbursement, and second, why the bill was so high. He said he then remembered that Morgan had ordered a second entree to take home, and that when it was packed, he forgot it at the table as the two were leaving, and he decided not to go back to get it.
Gardner says he ordered an entree for about $8.95 or $9.95 and a cup of coffee, which would total $11. He handed Business Administrator Chris Marion a check for $15 to cover what he says is his portion of the meal and tax and tip. “I don’t need my lunch paid for,” he said.
Turning to Morgan, he said if he would have known Morgan would have put in for reimbursement for the lunch, “I could have met you here in one of the conference rooms,” where it would not have cost anything, he said.
Gardner said that like council members he also has expenses that he incurs as a result of his position on the Planning Board for which he does not submit reimbursement, like the “hundreds of volunteers” throughout the township. “It’s an honor to serve my neighbors in this town,” Gardner said. “It’s an honor for you guys to sit up there.”
He then said that passing the salary raises would not help council members, calling it “political suicide” if they ever wanted to seek re-election when their terms are up. He said he was sure residents would remember the measure. And “quite frankly, if I’m around, I’ll remind them.”
Regarding the lunch reimbursement, Morgan after the meeting said he “vehemently” denies “this falsehood.” He said he ordered pasta with a side of sausage and then asked that the sausage be included in the pasta dish, rather than on the side.
He says Gardner’s numbers simply don’t add up. According to Morgan’s numbers, the pasta dish is $9.95 on the Villa Maria menu. A side of sausage is $2.75, Iced tea is 80 cents. A spinach saute is $4.50. That totals $18.
“The average veal, chicken, or seafood entree is $12.50,” Morgan says. “If Marvin had iced tea and nothing else with his entree, the cost of his meal was $13.80. If one of us had coffee after the meal, that would be another 80 cents, totaling $32.10. The invoice was $32.08 before the tip,” which Morgan says would come out to $16.04 a piece.
Morgan says an undue amount of time has been spent on the issue. “It is an example of the petty politics that get involved with respect to reimbursement requests and illustrates why a reimbursement process is a waste of taxpayers’ money and unfair to the participants, considering that other council members have been reimbursed for meal expenses in much larger amounts,” Morgan said.
In response, Gardner says taxpayers shouldn’t be paying for the lunch in the first place. “Why should I have lunch on the taxpayers’ back? He misses the whole issue,” Gardner says. “He’s worried about the computation.”
