At the first 2026 county budget hearing, the Hudson County Board of Commissioners, the electeds tangoed with various directors over which line items to cut to reallocate for families impacted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
By Dan Israel/Hudson County View
Commissioner Bill O’Dea (D-2) spearheaded questioning of each director about vacancies, new positions, overtime, and other line items within their individual budgets that make up the overall 2026 county budget totaling over $769 million.
While O’Dea sought to discuss the ongoing financial dilemma and subsequent cuts at the Hudson County Schools of Technology (HCST) with Interim Executive County Superintendent Melissa Pearce, she said their function is provide policy oversight to HCST.
“I can’t change a board of education’s decision on things. If a board of education makes a decision that somebody is not in agreement with, there can be relief going through controversies and disputes at the [state] Department of Education,” Pearce said.
O’Dea also noted that the $30,000 of overtime for Hudson County Surrogate’s Office was ripe for cutting, as well as 35,000 for seasonal staff at the Hudson County Office of Education.
For the Hudson County Sheriff’s Office, Sheriff Jimmy Davis told the board that they cut $1 million from expenditures by reevaluating overtime and other costs.
While they are in the process of moving into the new Guarini Courthouse starting August 1st, Davis said the sheriff’s office has 29 vacancies in security, sworn officers, and clerk positions that he will evaluate after the move.
He also anticipates having 30 officers in the next police academy, with eight undergoing the process right now.
Board Chair Anthony Romano (D-5) argued that savings will help the sheriff’s office negotiate their union contract with employees, to offset increasing salaries and boost retention.
“Everybody’s looking for money, but I feel that the priority should be ensuring that the sheriff’s officers are paid so we don’t keep losing them,” Romano said.
O’Dea noted that culminated in a $2 million savings in overtime year-over-year if the sheriff’s office continues at that rate, even with an increase to their total overall budget allotment from last year.
Davis said that would be the case, but between the upcoming 2026 FIFA World Cup finals, and the 250th Anniversary of the U.S. on the Fourth of July and accompanying celebrations, he is anticipating an uptick in overtime.
Davis affirmed to O’Dea that the Sheriff’s Office would be okay if the board reallocated $150,000 from its budget to “transfer to other projects or programs that we have a sensitive timeline to try to address.”
Commissioner Kenny Kopacz (D-1) asked that Davis look at the resumes of some of those HCST employees to be laid off in the closing of the Community Resource Center (CRC) to see if they can fill vacancies on the office side of the Sheriff’s Office.
O’Dea sought to see if those laid off HCST employees could transfer their healthcare insurance if they get jobs at the sheriff’s office since some are undergoing “significant health issues.”
However, he was told they couldn’t since HCST left the State Health Benefits Plan and would need to wait 60 days per state requirements.
After learning that, O’Dea wanted confirmation because if HCST left the state plan they should have been able to negotiate their benefits with another provider “at a significant cost savings.”
“Mayor Solomon did that with Jersey City and quite frankly, I’m doing that at a microlevel,” O’Dea said.
For the Office of the Superintendent of Elections, Superintendent of Elections and Commissioner of Registration Maryanne Kelleher said that elections are no longer seasonal operations, but are year-round endeavors.
She said this requires arduous work since the shift from mechanical to digital, as the over 850 voting machines are programmed differently for early voting and Election Day, and the staff has to physically unshelf, unbox, and install software updates for over 1,100 e-poll books in between elections.
Deputy Superintendent of Elections Kevin Lacey said that they expended $70,000 or so this year so far on overtime, but that could change since they are in the middle of a pay period amid recent primary elections.
Commissioner Bob Baselice (D-8) encouraged the Office of the Superintendent of Elections to also hire from the laid off pool of HCST CRC employees, although O’Dea also noted CRC salaries were more than the elections staffers and that the office would likely want to promote someone from within.
“Anyone who we hire at $40,000 a year, we should give them a referral to family services because they’re eligible for food stamps,” O’Dea said.
At the board of elections, Clerk Michael Harper told the board they budgeted $200,000 in overtime, with $20,000 possible to transfer out if necessary.
For the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitations, Director Becky Scott said vacancies are down from 130 last year to 96, with custody vacancies dropping from 80 to 66 and civilian vacancies from 64 to 30.
O’Dea noted they had “an amazing reduction” in overtime, which Scott said was due to the return of 46 staff out on occupational job injury claims to work in a modified capacity, decreasing that number to six.
Since they were serving in positions that would have been otherwise filled in overtime, she said that reduction helped the department “tremendously.”
While O’Dea and Cifelli took issue with the department’s need for their own lawyer, hired for $10,000 for one month after more than a year and half without someone in the role, Scott defended the essential nature of the corrections-specific lawyer.
Scott wants to hire 83 officers total this year, having already hired 41 officers as another 18 are at the academy now in Essex County and another 23 are headed to the Hudson County Public Safety Training Center in September.
In addition, Scott noted her office had already received resumes from the laid off HCST staff, but noted that 21 out of the 30 vacant civilian positions pay around $40,000 per year.
“With all the immigrant safety stuff we’ve been talking about, we can shift some dollars from here,” O’Dea said.
“I think it’s good faith in light of how much revenue the county made from the detainees during the 2017 through 2020, the four-year period, but I’m not looking to go crazy.”
However, Romano argued that the Hudson County Department of Housing and Reintegration is in dire need of funds, and should have monies shifted there to aid those the county is already assisting- and veterans- first before any other priorities.
O’Dea clarified that part of the $2 million ask from advocates for ICE-impacted families would see $1 million go to that department for rental assistance, which would benefit everyone in addition to immigrants.
For the Law Department, Hudson County Counsel Alberico De Pierro told the board they have $137,000 for 36 vacancies present in their budget, seeking to fill “essential” attorney positions by the end of the year.
In turn, O’Dea asked for a full list of employees and their job titles who have a vehicle allowance, to which he was told the allowance had been in place for over 20 years for various county employees but O’Dea said “that doesn’t make it right.”
For the Office of Culture and Heritage Affairs, O’Dea noted that he may draw funds from their budget for the ICE ask by advocates since their charged budget is usually 15 percent lower than their adopted budget.
O’Dea also thought they might be able to host a summer program since he just learned HCST cut their FunFit summer camp leaving about 500 students without a program this season.
For the Hudson County executive’s, Deputy County Administrator David Drumeler said their budget includes $15,000 for seasonal help- typical for each department to complete additional work while avoiding hiring full-time employees when short staffed.
For the County Administrator’s Office, O’Dea questioned who there gets a county vehicle, and Antun said it was the director of the Economic Development Corporation who is among about 20 employees with the same privilege.
Antun confirmed that the county can reimburse employees on mileage traveled during work in their personal vehicles, but O’Dea asked why they don’t do that with everybody to no answer.
Throughout the meeting, O’Dea tallied the number of employees with a county vehicle and found it to be exceeding 20.
For the Department of Finance and Administration, Director Cheryl Fuller said that, in the division of accounts and controls, accounts payable clerks and some assistants in that division utilize overtime, which is budgeted at $35,000.
O’Dea noted they could probably transfer money from there, since they constantly charged less than what they budgeted, although Fuller said they don’t know in advance how much overtime they’ll need.
How many community relations people work at the sheriffs office? what are their salaries for this free bee job?