At the second hearing for the 2026 county budget, which totals over $769 million, the Hudson County Board of Commissioners continued to search for line items to cut or transfer funds from to other initiatives.
By Dan Israel/Hudson County View
For the Hudson County Clerk’s Office, Commissioner Bill O’Dea (D-2) wanted to reallocate funds from their overtime budget as they didn’t hit the nearly $60,000 which was budgeted in 2024, a presidential election year, but only spent $37,339.
This year, the Clerk’s Office has expended about $11,000 in overtime thus far, including last week’s primary elections
“If you were given 40 this year, I would think that would give you more than enough cushion.
However, Deputy Clerk Jamie Davis argued that Clerk E. Junior Maldonado feels they need to keep the $60,000 for their overtime budget.
“I know what he feels, but it’s our budget and it’s our ability to make amendments. From my perspective, we’re looking to where there’s dollars that can be transferred without adversely impacting your ability to do what you’re able to do,” O’Dea replied.
Commissioner Al Cifelli (D-9) agreed, noting that being consistent in budgeting is nice, but times and needs have changed.
“We’ve got to cut this budget, so everybody’s got to throw in their contributions to this cut,” he added.
O’Dea continued his line of questioning regarding county vehicles from the first hearing, stating it has come to his attention that some county employees have a county vehicle and also receive a $600 vehicle allowance meant for those who do not accept a vehicle.
For the Hudson County Register’s Office, O’Dea wanted to cut around $6,000 from the $13,000 budgeted to attend seminars, since last year the office only spent $5,100 out of the budgeted $15,000.
While Hudson County Register Jeff Dublin argued that he and his staff do attend conferences and that “every dollar helps,” O’Dea felt they should be fine with a $6,000 cut from the $13,000 considering it would still be more than what was spent last year.
Dublin said he would work with their budget officer to figure out a way forward, while O’Dea said he wouldn’t touch their overtime since it could reduce their revenue.
At the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office, Prosecutor Wayne Melo said there are 47 vacancies, of which they are currently working to fill 10 assistant prosecutor roles, with six employees already identified to be hired in September.
O’Dea felt that since their final charged budget has come in nearly $1.5 million less than budgeted for the last two years, therefore Mello must fill those vacancies or they risk becoming easy targets for funding reductions in the budget.
In addition, Mello said they are working to fill 10 clerical and administrative vacancies, with three vacancies for prosecutorial agents having already been filled.
“We are actively recruiting: We need these people, we are understaffed,” he declared.
After Mello told Commissioner Bob Baselice (D-8) that they have a hard time finding and retaining clerical positions, he confirmed they would accept resumes from employees transferring from “another agency that might be closing up shop.”
This was an unnamed reference to the imminent closure of the HCST Community Resource Center and lay off of employees, which some have claimed are based on “incorrect audit findings.
Before Department of Housing and Reintegration Director Frank Mazza presented, Board Chair Anthony Romano (D-5) called for any reallocated funds to go to him and other current priorities of the board and administration.
“There seems to be either people that are clients or some concerned that work for the county, but I think we need to reassure everyone,” Romano said.
“I hope I speak for the board that Frank Mazza, who does outstanding work, and the Waterfront Project, are a priority, as is mental health, as is our homeless, as is our veterans, our senior programs, our LGBTQ+ community.”
Romano said after hearing concerns from both the HCPO and the Hudson County Sheriff’s Office about struggles retaining officers, he felt the board’s priority in transferring funding should be to those departments too.
During his remarks, Mazza told O’Dea he is waiting on potential state funding to fill seven vacancies in the Division of Community Reintegration, hoping there will be $7 million in the state budget for that cause.
There was also extensive discussion on how the county continues to cope with ongoing and future cuts to SNAP and Medicaid programs.
For the Department of Planning and Business Opportunity, O’Dea eyed their line item for seasonal staff for cuts since they had charged less than budgeted last year, but Director ShaRhonda Walker said they plan to use a lot of that money to hire summer interns.
Cifelli decried the salaries of administrators in the department, taking aim at the $199,000 director salary – which he was told is par the course for other department directors – was part of a problem with “the culture” in Hudson County.
This prompted Hudson County Executive Craig Guy to sternly defend the salaries of his department directors.
“We have a lot of great professionals that work for us, and to keep professionals and to keep the work that we need to do everyday,” he began, and while Cifelli interjected that he understood, Guy was not willing to relent.
“I’m entitled to speak just as well as you are. We have great professionals that work for us. And if we look around the dais, a lot of people that we all know work for us and we’re respectful of every one of those employees that you and that I know and all the commissioners know,” the county executive asserted.
“Every one of you commissioners call on our professionals to do the job that we’re elected to do. So to say, ‘Wow,’ and that ‘It’s an extraordinary amount,’ needs to be challenged.”
Cifelli remained unfazed: “Thanks for your challenge.”
While Baselice sought funds for a Trap, Neuter, Release (TNR) program in North Hudson, Walker said she has guided local non-profits on grants to apply for, but doesn’t have money in their budget to stand up the program.
For the Department of Health and Human Services, Director Darice Toon said that as American Rescue Plan (ARP) funds are depleted, they are assisting non-profits and other organizations in identifying replacement grants.
Toon confirmed to O’Dea there is a high turnover rate at the hospital, which has 74 patients out of an 84 bed capacity, because people are usually looking for full-time positions as opposed to part-time positions during the day.
Baselice repeated pleas regarding the stray cats in North Hudson, asking to collaborate with Health and Human Services officials on the TNR endeavor as well.
“The cat population is exploding. We have to try and curb that so that way, we don’t have cats and kittens all over the place,” he exclaimed.
For the Hudson County Department of Parks and Recreation, Director Jonathan DeFilippo described 12 vacancies in the Division of Parks and five new positions, including: supervisor, maintenance repairers, ground workers, assistant division chiefs, CDL drivers.
O’Dea felt there wasn’t much to cut or transfer there, while Romano took time to praise DeFilippo and Guy.
For the Hudson County Department of Roads and Public Property, Director Denise D’Alessandro said that overtime increased due to the two severe snowstorms in January and February.
At the end of the meeting, Cifelli returned fire with Guy over his department director salaries comment and brought up the tax increase in Kearny, something Guy traded blows over with council candidates backed by Cifelli in last week’s primary for town council that ended in a 2-2 split between the warring factions.
“When I made comments about one of the budget items, which was a salary item or two salary items, the county executive kind of chastised me about that. My comments towards the possible salary issues had to do with the overall budget,” Cifelli began
” … I would assume that [Mayor Carol Jean] Doyle would agree with me that this budget, which is 14 or 15 percent of an increase in the county budget. Kearny’s share of the county budget is not, we don’t want to vote for that, right mayor? And I think Jersey City is the same way.”
While Guy did not respond, unclear if he was still in attendance of the budget hearing via Zoom, Cifelli continued to express his frustration.
“I’m just kind of offended that you took umbrage at my criticism of budget items, because that’s my job and I’m just trying to represent my mayors in the two most increased municipalities within the county budget,” he concluded.
At the prior session, electeds made it clear they were serious about allocating significant funding, upwards of $2 million, for families impacted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), as only HCV reported.
