TRENTON—An investigation found three top Union County officials were paid a total of $417,772 in extra stipends and tuition reimbursement, without following the public process required by law, the Office of the State Comptroller (OSC) announced today.

By law, compensation of top county officials must be fixed by ordinance, with public notice, hearing, and vote.  OSC’s investigation found the County Manager and two Union County department heads—the Director of Public Works and the Director of Finance—received compensation on top of their six-figure base salaries that did not follow this public process, according to a letter OSC sent today to Union County Board of County Commissioners Chairman, Sergio Granados.

“Giving these top officials extra compensation without going through the required public process was unlawful," said Acting State Comptroller Kevin Walsh. “Residents should not have been deprived of the opportunity to weigh in.”

OSC’s investigation revealed that the Director of Finance received the largest amount, a total of $303,299 in stipends and partial tuition reimbursement from October 2019 to August 2022. Records indicate the Director of Finance received the stipends to provide financial management and project management services for the Union County Improvement Authority, a public entity that plans and manages development projects. Under this arrangement, the Director of Finance received $30,000 every six months from October 2019 until August 2020, at which point the County increased the stipend to $60,000 every six months.  The Director of Finance also was a graduate school student and was paid $37,990 as partial reimbursement for three to four graduate classes taken every semester.  None of this extra compensation went through the required public process.

During that same period, the Director of Finance’s salary also was raised four times, from $153,551 to $175,985. Those salary increases followed the public process.   

OSC found that the County also paid the Director of Public Works a total of $97,973 from January 2019 through August 2022, on top of his more than $150,000 base salary, to assist a municipality’s public works department.  The supplemental payments should have been adopted by ordinance but were not. (The Director of Public Works’ annual salary was $150,151 in 2019 and rose to $159,341 in 2022. The salary increases followed the public process. )  

OSC’s investigation also found that the County Manager received tuition reimbursements totaling $16,500, which was not set by ordinance.  

Since 1972, New Jersey’s Optional County Charter Law has required county boards of commissioners to establish compensation for themselves, the county executive, supervisor, manager or board president, administrative officer, and department heads by passing an ordinance.  Although Union County passed ordinances for the base salaries of the department heads and county manager, it did not do so for the stipends or tuition reimbursements.

The letter noted that Union County did not dispute the facts but instead made arguments that OSC found unpersuasive and unsupported by the law. For instance, Union County claimed that the law did not require supplemental payments to high-level officials to be approved through an ordinance.  

In the future, Union County, and other counties subject to OCCL, should strictly adhere to the public process required by the law when setting all forms of compensation for top officials, OSC’s letter said. OSC also directed Union County to create a corrective action plan, detailing how it will comply with the law for the $417,772 in stipends and tuition reimbursements already disbursed.

Read the letter.

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To report government fraud, waste, mismanagement, or corruption, file a complaint with OSC or call 1-855-OSC-TIPS.