At the August 27, 2025 Toms River Council Meeting, an Emergency Resolution was approved to “Fund Accumulated Leave Compensation Payments due to Unexpected Retirements and to Fund a Judgment,” as explained at the meeting by Business Administrator Jonathan Salonis and Attorney Peter Pascarella prior to the arrival of Mayor Daniel Rodrick, as he was still in transit from his Full-Time job at Irvington High School. The resolution states “an emergency has arisen with respect to additional funds being required to fund accumulated leave compensation payments due to unexpected retirements and to fund a Judgment, which adequate provision was not made in the 2025 budget.” Both Salonis and Pascarella “spun” the story when questioned by Councilman James Quinlisk and Councilman David Ciccozzi, as Rodrick’s puppets, Lynn O’Toole, Justin Lamb, Bill Bryne and Craig Coleman sat by ready to vote “YES,” with no understanding of the resolution. The entire resolution is provided below.
Relative to the “unexpected retirements,” Salonis stated that “there are always unexpected retirements, how would we know.” CFO Gallagher stated “we only allocated $500,000 in the budget for the year.” The resolution states that $1,800,000 (a very round number) is necessary for accumulated leave compensation and $137,700 for contribution to social security system for a total of $1,937,700 to fund “unexpected retirements.” A copy of the 2025 Retirement List provided via OPRA from the Toms River Police Department on April 22, 2025 is provided for proof of the expected or considered retirements prior to the 2025 budget proposal and adoption. This is a clear manipulation of the budget process and a way to present a lower budget, when you really needed more money. Rodrick Rules of Chaos!
The resolution also stated that $1,319,000 was necessary to fund a judgment that Pascarella stated “was underfunded by the prior administration and more money was necessary due to the jury decision in January, 2025, plus interest at 7.5%.” So Mr. Pascarella is accurate, a jury awarded Defendant John P. Herlihy for 133 Riverwood Drive (Block 171, Lot 7) $3,157,000 since Toms River Township acquired the property through Eminent Domain. At the time of the filing in 2022, Toms River placed $2,130,000 into an account with the Court, so the balance due after the decision of the jury is $1,027,000, plus interest estimated at $292,000. The jury decision was on January 24, 2025, so Toms River was aware of the need for $1,319,000 prior to the proposal and adoption of the 2025 budget. This is a clear manipulation of the budget process and a way to present a lower budget, when you really needed more money. Rodrick Rules of Chaos! It should also be noted, that though the Eminent Domain process started in 2022, under Mayor Maurice Hill, the trial and final outcome was decided by Daniel Rodrick’s team of attorneys, that donate to his campaigns and PACs; so this is on Daniel Rodrick!
All proof of the above is provided below, but it is clear to state this “Emergency Resolution” could have been avoided and should have been included in the Toms River 2025 budget – $3,256,7000 of “manipulated budgeting!” Daniel Rodrick must be recalled!