The mayor of a small New Jersey city is all in favor of belt-tightening – as long as it does not affect his own waistline, the Associated Press reported.

When he still served on Rahway's City Council, Samson Steinman led efforts to cut the salary of his mayoral predecessor, Rick Proctor, to $21,000. But now that he has taken over the post, he would like to see the compensation boosted to $72,000.

Unlike Proctor, Steinman intends to be a full-time mayor, which will require him to resign from his $45,000-a-year job as a business administrator in Bound Brook, he argued. By eliminating the city's business administrator position and fulfilling the role of assistant business administrator himself, meanwhile, he plans to save the city some $80,000 a year, the AP noted.

Still, the new mayor is "is taking some heat for the decision," the (Middlesex County, New Jersey) Home News Tribune noted. His critics include Patrick Cassio, a former Republican mayoral candidate.

"It's way out of line," Cassio told the local newspaper.

The local politician argued that Steinman has use of a city vehicle and health coverage, and that the mayor of nearby Union Township makes a mere $19,000; Westfield – another New Jersey community – pays its chief executive a symbolic single dollar, he added.

"Seventy-two thousand dollars is a generous salary," Cassio insisted. "Nothing he is doing rates that kind of pay."

But even though "apparent hypocrisy isn't lost on Steinman," who would become one of the highest paid mayors of Central Jersey cities the size of Rahway, the mayor has no plans of backing down, the Home News Tribune added.

"My heart's here," he insisted. "I spend every single second thinking about the city of Rahway."

Being a full-time mayor means he is available around the clock, and Steinman pointed out that he responded to a church-ceiling collapse on Easter Sunday, as well as to an early-morning incident car crash on Tuesday.

"I fulfill all the duties of a full time mayor and more," he concluded.