The state reprimanded the borough for spending as much as it did on the police chief and captains, according to chief financial officer Ed Cortright. The warning, which came from the State Division of Local Government Services, could decrease the likelihood the borough will get extraordinary aid in 2008.

Cortright said he received a phone call from someone at the board expressing disapproval over the dramatic raises in salary the chief and captains received over the course of the past several years.

"They chastised us regarding the use of extraordinary aid… To put it mildly, they would be less inclined to look favorably upon an extraordinary aid application for 2008," said Cortright.

"The purpose of the call was to inform Rutherford that if they had enough funds available in their general surplus to fund negotiated retirement packages, then it would be difficult for them to justify the need for extraordinary aid in the future," said DCA spokesperson Chris Donnelly.

Former Chief Steven Nienstedt and former Captain Thomas Farrell’s retirement contracts included the provision that the $502,300 in unused time they had together accumulated be paid to them "as soon as possible." The total sum exceeds the amount received by the borough in extraordinary aid for 2007, $500,000. Cortright noted that employees usually opt to receive their unused time over a period of several years in order to avoid greater taxes.

Between 2002 and 2006, the Chief Nienstedt’s salary rose by over $44,600, an average increase of $11,162, or 8.33 percent, per year. During the same time, captains’ salaries, of which there are two in the department, rose by about $39,300, an average annual increase of $9,822, or 9.26 percent, per year. In 2003 alone, salaries went up by over $19,000 each.

"They were upset they gave us $500,000 in extraordinary aid and that we ended up giving it over to the chief and the captain," said Mayor John Hipp. He said that despite the reprimand he expects to work closely with the state once the budget is introduced.

"They do acknowledge that we’re a new administration and this is not our fault," he said.

However, for the previously mentioned reason and because of further state cuts in the extraordinary aid program, Hipp said he doesn’t think the extra money is going to be an option for the borough in 2008. Rutherford has received extraordinary aid every year since 2002, with the lowest amount being $330,000 in 2004 and the highest $700,000 in 2002. $500,000 was the highest amount of aid awarded by the state to any town in 2007; only eight other towns in New Jersey received that much.

Though the borough approved contracts to pay Nienstedt and Farrell the $500,000 amount in 2007, so far the two have only received about $300,000 of that amount, according to Cortright. The other $200,000 will have to come out of the 2008 budget and has not yet been sent.

"We’re referring the matter to council and looking into it," said Hipp about the owed money. Councilwoman Maura Keyes said the two retired officers have already made multiple requests for the remainder.