THE NEW ORDINANCE

We’re being told this ordinance will "limit" retiree health benefits. However, ordinance 2026-13 actually creates a new lifetime retiree health benefit for seven high-level and highly-paid positions:

• Borough Manager

• Director of Public Works

• Chief Financial Officer

• Municipal Clerk

• Police Chief*

• Police Captain*

• Police Lieutenant*

  This isn't limiting the pool. It's building something new and handing taxpayers the bill.

  *These three positions already have negotiated health benefits through their union contracts.

GASLIGHTING 101

At the March 12 council meeting, residents packed the room. Republicans, Democrats, people who had never attended before. They heard that Borough Manager Scott Heck had accumulated over $813,000 in comp time, and that instead of taking it, he would take lifetime health insurance.

Now we're told by the Mayor, Deputy Mayor and Boro Manager himself that the $813,000 and this ordinance are unrelated. That what residents heard, on the record, was a misunderstanding. That the real reason they are passing this ordinance is to save us money. To “limit” the pool. That's insulting.

The Mayor has repeatedly dismissed this scrutiny as an "online narrative." That's the playbook: tell residents what they saw and heard wasn't real.

Transparency isn't an "online narrative." It's accountability.

A DEFINITION WRITTEN FOR ONE PERSON

The ordinance does not just create a new benefit. It also rewrites the definition of qualifying service in a way that is hard to explain unless you are trying to fit one specific person's work history. Residents may recall that at the March meeting, the Borough Manager's $813k comp time was cited as the reason he deserved lifetime health insurance and this ordinance appears written to make that claim hold up.

Under the new language, qualifying service can include:

• Time spent as a part-time elected official, such as a councilperson

• Time as a borough employee

• Time that does not need to be continuous

Why does this read like it was built around someone's resume? Think about what this means for fairness. Someone who served part-time as an elected official, combined with non-continuous borough employment, could qualify for a lifetime benefit under this new definition. Meanwhile, most borough employees who worked full-time for decades would not have access to anything close to it.

This isn't a retiree benefit plan. It's the Council rewarding one of their own, dressed up as policy.

The Borough Manager has not had a contract since 2014. Lifetime benefits like this are typically negotiated before the work is performed, not created afterward by ordinance! You don't get a new law written around your service history on the way out. Every taxpayer in Ringwood should be asking why this is happening now.