TOMS RIVER, NJ – Toms River Mayor Maurice “Mo” Hill is under fire after waging a three-year legal battle to claim retirement benefits was clearly not entitled to.
Hill began seeking those benefits as far back as 2020 and was rejected. He filed an appeal with the state. That appeal was rejected three months later.
The battle, which saw township attorneys Gregory P. McGuckin and Anthony Merlino fight on the mayor’s behalf, started on February 18, 2021. That was the day Hill received a letter from the New Jersey Department of Treasury’s Division of Pensions and Benefits clearly explaining why he is ineligible to receive a public pension on his temporary $75,000 mayoral salary.
The board investigating Hill’s complaint found “no genuine material of fact” in Hill’s claim to the pension.
He was rejected again. Then he had the township attorneys take the battle to court, where he lost again. Not satisfied with three rejections, Hill continued his pension battle, filing an appeal that he lost.
On Thursday, a judgment by the appellate court once again clearly explained why Hill was ineligible to ‘bump’ his pension to his new mayoral salary.
Mayor Hill was enrolled in the PERS effective April 1, 2004, as a result of his elected position as Toms River Township Councilman. Mayor Hill served in that position until December 31, 2019, at which time he was elected Mayor of Toms River. In 2007, the New Jersey Legislature issued a series of bills aimed at reforming the pension system. L. 2007, c. 92, (Chapter 92) which became effective July 1, 2007, precluded elected officials from enrollment in the PERS.
Subsequent to the passage of Chapter 92, elected officials were only eligible for enrollment in the Defined Contribution Retirement Program (DCRP). Elected officials who were already enrolled in the PERS prior to July 1, 2007, were permitted to remain in the PERS while they remained in the elected office they held prior to that date. Thus, Chapter 92 authorized Mayor Hill to remain in the PERS and he continued to accrue PERS service credit while he remained in the office of Councilman he held as of July 1, 2007. In 2019, Hill was elected as Mayor and began his term on January 1, 2020.
As a result of the fact that Hill no longer held his Council seat, Toms River Township submitted Mayor Hill’s DCRP application on January 13, 2020, and he was enrolled in the DCRP retroactive to January 1, 2020. Because Mayor Hill no longer served in the position he held on July 1, 2007, as a result of Chapter 92, specifically, N.J.S.A. 43:15C-2, Mayor Hill is required to enroll in the DCRP and is precluded from continuing his PERS enrollment or from earning any PERS service credit in his Mayoral position
The appellate court’s decision against Hill echoed that of the lower court and pension board.
Petitioner Maurice B. Hill, Jr. appeals from a December 9, 2021 final agency decision by respondent Board of Trustees, Public Employees’ Retirement System, denying his request to re-enroll in the Public Employees’ Retirement System (PERS). This case requires us to interpret N.J.S.A. 43:15A-7.5, a statute allowing certain elected officials who had previously been barred from being PERS members, pursuant to laws enacted in 2007, to re-enroll in PERS. We hold N.J.S.A. 43:15A-7.5 applies only to elected officials who had fifteen years of continuous service in New Jersey elective public offices, who were elected to new offices prior to the statute’s effective date and applied for retroactive1 enrollment in PERS within a 180-day deadline set forth in the statute. Because Hill met neither requirement, we affirm.
The law was clearly against Hill in the matter, but he kept pushing, using township-funded lawyers to fight his losing battle.
The costs of the lawsuit are anticipated to be in the range of $40,000 to $50,000, but township officials are not releasing that information, at least not voluntarily.
Councilman Daniel Rodrick, who is running for the office of mayor in June’s GOP primary election, said he is deeply concerned about Hill’s use of public resources to fight a personal legal battle. Moreso, Rodrick said he was not shocked to learn Hill was trying to ‘scam’ a public pension.
“Mo Hill was engaged in actively trying to scam the taxpayers out of a pension he clearly did not deserve,” Rodrick said. “New Jersey enacted these strict public pension laws to stop people like Mo Hill from abusing the public pension system. He should pay the money he spent on our lawyers back to the people of Toms River.”
Toms River Councilman Justin Lamb said Hill’s failed attempt to game the pension system was “disgusting”.
“The disturbing report that Mo Hill has been engaged in a three-year court case to pad his taxpayer-funded pension benefits is disgusting,” Lamb said. “While Toms River residents have been saddled with higher taxes, new fees, and exorbitant beach badge prices, Mo has been working for himself.”
Art Gallagher, Hill’s public information officer declined to comment on the matter.
