Hudson County Executive Craig Guy is declaring that the county has never denied funding to the sheriff’s office under Frank Schillari’s tenure, responding to bold comments from the sheriff in his own interview yesterday.
By John Heinis/Hudson County View
“Shame on Frank: we, myself and my predecessor, have never denied the sheriff any budget request – and I want to emphasize never. The sheriff has come to us a number of times over the years, in fact this [fiscal] year, 2024 before his handlers began telling him how to handle his campaign,” Guy stated.
When asked point blank if the administration or the Hudson County Board of Commissioners ever withheld or voted down a funding allocation for the sheriff, Guy replied “as far as I can recall, never.”
“The sheriff has refused to be transparent in his budget requests. I have a document here John that just asks the sheriff for transparency, to justify some of his extraordinary requests here,” the county executive continued.
Guy wanted to elaborate on his perspective after Schillari exclaimed that “he turned his back on the sheriff’s office” by holding up new hires, citing a table of organization (TO) that has been stuck at 325 officers for decades.
According to Guy, Schillari has failed to justify in writing why the TO needs to be expanded (he said during his interview that the department is woefully short handed).
“The only thing the sheriff comes to the administration about is he needs x amount of more officers. Well, I’ve come to the sheriff, in a number of communications is tell me, without jeopardizing any safety issues, tell me where your personnel are assigned and then we can have a viable conversation of where and how financially responsive we can be,” Guy said.
“The taxpayer doesn’t want to hear that the county executive is listening to the sheriff, and meanwhile, he’s mismanaging his entire budget.”
Guy further stated that he believes the sheriff’s office overtime is “out of control,” highlighting that an officer made $162,481.27 in OT last year – one of a dozen who made over six figures last year.
An Open Public Records Act (OPRA) request to the county about 2024 overtime to the sheriff’s office, answered in less than a day, revealed that the officer Guy mentioned is Domenick Bellero.
“He’s an officer in the sheriff’s department, $162,000 in overtime, that’s equivalent to two-and-a-half jobs,” the county executive asserted.
The feud between Schillari, who is running on Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop’s gubernatorial ticket in the June 10th primary, and Guy, also the chair of the Hudson County Democratic Organization (HCDO) – who is backing Bayonne Mayor Jimmy Davis for sheriff – looks like it’s just getting started.
In response, sheriff’s office spokesman Nick Bond called Guy’s criticisms “absurd,” challenging the notion that the county has never impeded the department from hiring more officers.
“In 2023, he applied for and was approved for a federal COPS grant to hire 15 new officers, with the federal government covering 75 percent of their salaries. The County administration rejected the grant, refusing to fund the remaining amount and instead choosing to continue paying inflated overtime,” Bond told HCV.
“Then in February of this year, the sheriff contacted every county commissioner and County Executive Guy directly, outlining the urgent need for more officers with the opening of the new courthouse – but again the County refused.”
He further stated that Schillari has implemented the ARRIVE Together program in Bayonne and Jersey City, 24/7 patrols in county parks and roads, and created a specialized Traffic and Crash Investigation Unit that secured grant funding through Vision Zero – as well as bringing in over $50 million in outside funding.
