A dying breed: Paid bridge commissioners

Most of the region's highway authority members and bridge commissioners, even those who sit on the controversial Delaware River Port Authority, are unpaid.

But for years, members of the Burlington County Bridge Commission operated under the radar, receiving annual salaries of more than $14,400, plus health benefits and pension credits, to prepare for and attend monthly meetings.

That policy effectively ended in the fall when the last paid commissioner got her final check. Unwilling to work free, she completed her term and was replaced late last month by an appointee who will work gratis.

Priscilla Anderson, one of three bridge commissioners who oversaw management of the Tacony-Palmyra and Burlington-Bristol Bridges, said that when she was appointed six years ago, it was with the understanding she would be paid.

"Then the agreement was changed, and that was not my decision or my desire," said Anderson, a retired guidance counselor and former mayor of Willingboro.

According to Anderson, the county Board of Freeholders advised the commission last year to eliminate salaries and perks.

"They wanted to be in line with what the governor's program is," she said.

The GOP-controlled board appoints the commissioners.

Gov. Christie has cracked down on state authorities and called upon independent local boards and agencies to rein in spending. Most recently, he singled out the Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission in Newark for its lavish salaries and nepotism.

The DRPA has come under fire from Republican and Democratic leaders for approving excessive pay and perks for managers, doling out no-bid contracts, and giving employees bridge and train passes. On Friday, Christie vetoed the minutes of a recent DRPA meeting where he said a firm was paid in violation of the ban on no-bid contracts.

In March, the Burlington County Bridge Commission voted unanimously to abolish its members' wages and health benefits and halt pension credits. Anderson went along with the proposal, she said, because she did not want "to look like I was trying to be uncooperative."

Anderson asked if she could receive her compensation until finishing her term in October.

The former Republican state assemblywoman said that the proposal had come without warning and that she needed the money to help an unemployed family member.

Commission Chairman John Comegno, also a Republican, and Commissioner Troy Singleton, a Democrat, agreed to her request.

In an e-mail last week, Comegno wrote that state law permits commissioners to receive "annual compensation" and compared it to "how municipalities' councilmen/women are compensated."

Liz Verna, an agency spokeswoman, said the commissioners decided on their own to eliminate their salaries in response to the economic crisis and the governor's request. The freeholders exerted no pressure on them, Verna said.

Anderson defended the bridge commissioners' salaries, saying their work was "quite a bit of responsibility." The commission collects nearly $30 million annually in bridge tolls, oversees a $41 million capital budget, and handles the county's economic-development projects.

Other area bridge commissions and highway authorities do not pay their members. Among them are the Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission, the South Jersey Transportation Authority, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and the New Jersey Turnpike Authority.

The Pennsylvania Turnpike Authority pays board members $26,000 annually and provides health and pension benefits.

Anderson, who cited her volunteer work for other organizations, said that she had enjoyed her work with the commission, but that it was time to move on.

Chris Myers, Medford Township's mayor and an unsuccessful Republican candidate for Congress in 2008, was recently appointed to the commission. His swearing-in is set for March 8.