Financial records from the Burlington County Bridge Commission (BCBC) show that in the same year that 23 employees were laid off due to financial concerns from the effects of the pandemic, the pay and benefits for just 12 Administrators rose nearly 62%. The records show that when BCBC was under the control of a Republican County Party in 2018-2019, administrative costs for both pay and benefits for the 12 employees of the BCBC was $1,367,756, yet for 2019-2020, costs rose to $2,188,932 for the same 12 employees.

The Executive Director for the 2018-2019 fiscal year was John Jeffers, who received a total of $196,103 in both pay and benefits. In November of 2019 the Democratic Party took control of the county, and the new Executive Director for the BCBC was named as Joseph Andl, who is also the Chairman of the Burlington County Democratic Party, and who received $224,241 for the 2019-2020 fiscal year.

When Jeffers was the Executive Director, not one administrator received a vehicle stipend, yet for 2022-2023, all 12 employees received one, totaling $96,903 in just vehicle stipends. One that stands out is the Director of Engineering, Sasha Harding, who receives a whopping $26,000 in just vehicle stipends alone, and in total, will be paid $252,688 in pay and benefits for the 2022-2023 fiscal year.

In the same fiscal year, Andl is quoted as saying “I feel terrible it’s come to this. But this is historic times. We’ve never seen anything like this before with historic losses. We have to mitigate and moderate as best we can.”, yet the 12 administrative employees pay under Andl increased on average by $63,447 in that same year. In the same article linked above, which was written by former journalist, David Levinsky, who is now the Public Information Officer for the Burlington County Commissioners, where he is making more than $80,000 per year, it claims that the BCBC was freezing all discretionary spending, and cutting the senior staff’s pay by 10%, but that does not seem to be the case from their own financial records.

If discretionary spending was frozen, and the senior staff’s pay was out by 10%, how did the 12 administrators, which includes Andl, make out like such bandits by achieving a 62% pay increase?

I’d reach out to David Levinsky to ask that question, but he has still yet to return my calls or emails regarding the missing Cares Act funds that I reported on a couple of days ago, so I won’t hold my breath.