Financial Watchdog's Findings Lead To Partial Rewrite Of Haddonfield Policy

HADDONFIELD, NJ — Haddonfield has changed part of a borough policy in response to a state report that claimed the municipality was "wasting taxpayer funds" regarding the municipality's sick and vacation leave policies.

The State of New Jersey alleged in "A Review of Sick and Vacation Leave Policies in New Jersey Municipalities" that at the time of the state publication, Haddonfield wrongly allowed "for payment for annual unused sick days of up to seven days for covered employees."

Haddonfield was also accused of wrongly allowing "for payment for annual unused sick leave for employees hired after May 21, 2010."

Haddonfield Borough's Administrator said she drafted a change to the municipality's nearly 20-year-old "Policy and Procedure Manual" in response to the State of New Jersey Comptroller's findings.

"It was our understanding at the time when our rules and regulations were put into place that [payout of sick time] was only upon retirement," Sharon McCullough told Patch during the borough's Aug. 29 commissioners' meeting.

However, the state's rules and regulations have changed to only allow for sick leave payouts for those hired after May 21, 2010.

Therefore, Haddonfield's vacation and sick leave policies were rewritten to "simply change who qualifies to take part in that program" and thus now reflect the May 21, 2010 date, McCullough said.

The Haddonfield Borough Commissioners unanimously approved McCullough's change during its Aug. 29 meeting.

In addition to Haddonfield, the other Camden County municipalities mentioned in the state comptroller's report were Bellmawr, Gloucester City, Gloucester Township and Winslow.

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