Our municipal judge, Mark Apostolou, is due to be reappointed by the city council within a few weeks. I have never been too impressed by this judge's performance and I personally believe that Asbury Park can do better.
Judge Apostolou works for seven other cities in the region and rakes in big money. Asbury faces a lot of challenges and I think we need a Judge that can dedicate himself to our city. (see article below) The Asbury Park Police are busting their humps to make Asbury Park a safer place to live. We need a judge that shares their commitment to this city. There is a city council meeting this Wednesday at 7:00 p.m. I think it would be a good idea if more people would speak to the council members about this issue. Asbury Park can do better and must. If you cannot attend this meeting, I urge you to write or email the city council members and let them know what you think. I would hate to see this judge reappointed before the council can consider alternatives. If anyone has the email address of the different council members, I would appreciate it if someone would post them so that more people can make themselves heard. (By the way this has nothing to do with Stand Up For Asbury!!!) Paul Vail 511 Second Part-time jobs add up to big payouts Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 10/11/06 BY NICHOLAS CLUNN GANNETT NEW JERSEY (Excerpt) Asbury Park City Manager Terrance Reidy said he was surprised when he found out that the city's municipal court judge, Mark Apostolou, works in seven other towns and makes a total of $264,000 in government salaries. Apostolou also works as the municipal judge in Bradley Beach, Brielle, Deal, Eatontown, Lake Como, Manasquan and Neptune City. The number of Apostolou's jobs, however, didn't change Reidy's high opinion of the judge's performance in Asbury Park. "If the system allows that to happen, and he puts in the time, then God bless him," he said. "It's not like he forgets, "Where am I today? In Asbury Park or in Bradley Beach?' " The Gannett review also found that many of the biggest tackers are political players who obtained their appointments as a result of close ties with top elected officials. Sunday, May 8, 2005 By NICHOLAS CLUNN Gannett New Jersey Damien G. Murray's salaries from eight municipal judgeships will total $268,284 this year - a paycheck that will easily exceed those of the chief justice of the United States, U.S. senators and New Jersey's governor. Murray's collective salary - earned by ruling on drunken-driving charges, parking ticket appeals and other matters in Beachwood, Dover Township, Lacey, Lakehurst, Little Egg Harbor Township, Ocean Gate, Seaside Heights and Stafford Township - likely will provide the 55- year-old Dover Township resident with a comfortable pension. If Murray, a municipal court judge since 1981, retires when he turns 60, and if his collective salary this year ends up his highest, he will earn an annual pension somewhere around $141,000, among the most lucrative of those enrolled in the state's Public Employee Retirement System. Murray's judgeships show how "tacking" can result in huge pensions. Tacking happens when multiple public-salaried jobs are added together to form one huge salary. Murray - a 55-year-old private-practice lawyer from Dover Township and a former Ocean County freeholder - is not alone in this practice. A number of private-practice lawyers in Monmouth and Ocean counties will obtain big pensions through municipal judgeships. Mark Apostolou, who holds court in eight Monmouth County municipalities, would get an annual pension of $130,000 if his salary this year of $264,000 is his highest and if he retires when he turns 60. Apostolou, a municipal court judge since 1987, works in Asbury Park, Bradley Beach, Brielle, Deal, Eatontown, Lake Como, Manasquan and Neptune City. Meanwhile, acting Gov. Richard J. Codey is paid $175,000; although he is also state Senate president, he does not accept the salary for that post. New Jersey Chief Supreme Court Justice Deborah Poritz is paid $164,250, and U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist gets $203,000. U.S senators, meanwhile, are paid $162,100. Like New Jersey's pension system, public retirement benefits on the federal level depend on years of service and the average of the highest three years of salary. Apostolou, 50, of Manasquan, said he couldn't comment on his combined salaries, citing a long-standing Monmouth County policy preventing judges from speaking with reporters. As for Murray, he said the salaries he's paid are justified. Municipal judgeships, for one, differ greatly from other jobs at town hall, he said. Municipal judges, he said, are financially compelled to work for several towns because state conflict-of-interest laws severely limit what they can do in private practice. "It would be very difficult for someone to be a judge in one or two towns because they have to give up so much other (legal) work," he said. "In the long term, they would be losing money." Murray said he picks up a private legal case here and there, usually as a favor for a friend. He said he didn't become a judge to sweeten his retirement package. "If I was in private practice, and I was making more, I'm sure I could make my own pension system," he said. "There are literally thousands of lawyers in New Jersey that are making more than Judge Apostolou and me." Furthermore, municipal judges are on-call at all times, Murray said. Besides sitting on the bench, they set bail and grant search warrants, sometimes during the early morning hours, he said. ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Yahoo! Groups gets a make over. See the new email design. http://us.click.yahoo.com/hOt0.A/lOaOAA/yQLSAA/Y2tolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AsburyPark/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AsburyPark/join (Yahoo! 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