Above the law? Union County officials refuse to comply with N.J. compensation transparency rules

The Office of the State Comptroller is urging New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy to withhold funds from Union County and take other measures until county officials comply with the state’s compensation law, which requires that all compensation for top officials be detailed in an ordinance.

In December of 2023, the Office of the State Comptroller released a report revealing that Union County paid three top officials $417,772 in extra stipends and tuition reimbursements without following the public legislative process required by state law. The Office of the State Comptroller directed county officials to submit a corrective action plan to comply with the law.

More than half a year later, Union County officials have refused to take action. Instead, they are trying to change the law to work in their favor and decrease transparency. They have cited a bill that was introduced in February to change the law the county violated. The bill would remove the requirement that supplemental pay beyond base pay be disclosed in the salary ordinance.

The bill, S2702, was introduced by Senator Brian Stack, who has served as the mayor of Union City since 2000. Stack has been a senator since 2008. He is one of the last “double dippers” who holds both a local elected position and serves in the New Jersey Senate.

Stack’s bill would require that supplemental payments like tuition and stipends be set through a local ordinance. The bill has not cleared the Senate, and no version of the bill has been introduced in the New Jersey Assembly.

Acting State Comptroller Kevin Walsh sent a letter to the governor, Senate President Nick Scutari, and Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin about the risk of further waste in Union County and the possibility that Union County officials will continue to violate the law. Scutari, an ally of Stack, is the chairman of the Union County Democratic Committee.

In the July 11 letter to the governor, Walsh noted that Union County officials are required by law to “fully cooperate” with the Office of the State Comptroller to develop a corrective action plan. He also said Union County officials’ rationale for non-compliance is inconsistent with the law and the basic rules under which local governments are required to operate.

“If the mere introduction of a bill by a single legislator, without a vote on the floor of both houses . . . were enough to justify ignoring current law, the rule of law in our state would be undermined,” the letter reads. “Nothing supports such a sweeping view of pending legislation.”

Walsh has recommended that the governor withhold public funds from Union County. He has also recommended that the Division of Local Government Services in the Department of Community Affairs, or the Local Finance Board, require that the Office of the State Comptroller approve all supplemental payments to high-level Union County officials until Union County submits and complies with a corrective action plan, as required by law.

New Jersey’s Optional County Charter Law requires that county boards of commissioners to establish compensation for themselves, the county executive, supervisors, manager or board presidents, administrative officers, and department heads by passing an ordinance.  Although Union County officials passed ordinances for base salaries of the department heads and the county manager, they did not do so for the stipends and tuition reimbursements. Instead, Union County officials adopted resolutions that did not disclose the officials who would receive supplemental payments. Walsh said the lack of transparency deprived Union County residents of information to weigh in on the extra compensation. 

“Unless the law is actually changed, Union County has an obligation to comply with the law and to fully cooperate with OSC’s directive to prepare a corrective action plan,” Walsh wrote in his letter to the governor, which was also sent to the Department of Community Affairs, the chairperson for the Union County Board of Commissioners, and the lawyer for Union County.