Cumberland County Commissioners Regular Board Meeting June 23, 2026

Adequate notice of this meeting was
provided in accordance with chapter 231
public law 1975.
Moment of silence.
At this time, I pledge allegiance by
commissioner Garcia.
I pledge algiance to the flag of the
United States of America and to the
republic for which it stands. One nation
under God, indivisible, with liberty and
justice for all.
>> Commissioner Capazola
>> here.
>> Commissioner Garcia here. Commissioner
Alino here.
>> Commissioner Sar.
>> Commissioner Romero
>> here.
>> Deputy Director Marawn
>> here.
>> Director Taylor present.
>> Do I have a motion in second to accept
and dispense with the reading of the
minutes from the last public meeting?
>> So move.
>> Second.
>> All in favor?
>> There's no question.
>> We have a couple presentations tonight.
Um the poster winner con the poster
contest winners would be presented by
our constitutional officers.
So good evening everyone and
commissioners thank you for allowing us
to present um the poster award contest
winners. Now, I think it was WC Field
that said, "I don't I don't like to work
with animals and children."
Clearly, none of the children showed up.
>> And they still might. They still might.
Um but um since 2018, we the
constitutional office or the clerk's
office has created an election calendar.
Um
since 2021 we've been doing the by
county poster contest um which all of
the constitutional officers in the state
of New Jersey do but we what we do with
our posters is not only do we give them
a monetary award which is supplied by
the three constitutional officers but we
also create um the election calendar and
I'll post
this is last year's these are the
winners that will for this year. If you
want to pass some around,
um, this is all I have left because
they're very popular.
Um,
this year we had three, we've gotten,
every year we get more and more schools
that participate. Uh, this year we've
had four schools that participated. West
Avenue, Fox, Fairfield, my renown pal,
and what was the other
what was
the Marie Durant? I apologize. Um, the
three winners this year, our third place
winner. Third place,
>> which always every year a winner has the
sheriff's department on it.
every year.
[applause]
>> But the third place winner was Helio
Smith out of Fairfield school. Our
second place winner was um two students
did a combined cont poster from
Buckshing School. It was Brit Britney
Menddees Chavez and Kayn Perez Lopez.
And our first place winner was Melanie
Velasquez from West Avenue School. Wow.
Um, FIRST PLACE
[applause]
will go on the cover and then each month
all the students who participate get a
month and so
>> yeah it is
>> it's very nice because people love it
but it's so it's very fun to read what
the kids um write about Cumberland
County and what they know. Uh we display
the all the posters in the courthouse
for gosh almost two whole months that
yeah ever since we start the poster
contest we announce it usually in March.
>> So that's it.
>> One of the good I mean we talked about
this before but one of the good things
is like you will learn something about
Carlin County. I guarantee you if you go
look at these posters because they
research stuff that's went on in the
county and I know that the year before I
forget which one it was but I was like I
never knew that.
>> Yeah.
>> So it's really cool. We walk up the
courthouse if these posters are up there
where they're displayed at because
there's they go across the board with
history of the county.
But you won't learn anything about the
circus office.
It's all about the sheriff.
>> It's a big subject. [laughter] Yeah,
it's all about the
hoping that
>> I'm hoping some of them might show up
tonight. If they don't, um, that's okay.
But if they do, we'll
>> we'll stop the meeting.
>> Thank you. I appreciate that. They're
only fourth grade, so and only fourth
grade gets to participate. So that's all
questions.
>> Very nice.
>> I think we should thank the
constitutional officers for putting ON
[applause]
THE BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS ALSO has um
certificates to present the winners.
>> Oh, wonderful. We um we actually visited
their schools last week to present them
with their um their awards and it's very
exciting, you know, because they're
they're very excited to receive it. They
they all clap for each other. It's very
clear. So, thank you. You're welcome.
Before
we get into the presentation with
Inspir, I would like to um congratulate
Miss New Jersey, who's a former Miss
Cumberland County, Kelly Wright. And
with that,
and Spear will be doing a presentation
tonight.
Good evening everyone. Thank you so much
for having us on this evening. Uh we
hope not to take up too much of your
time. We know you have a lot of business
to get to this evening, but um we thank
you for inviting us, Director Taylor and
Commissioners, to be here with you on
this evening to talk about our find help
services that we offer through Inspira.
to my colleagues that are here with me
on this evening um will present on it. I
am Robin Walton and I am senior vice
president of external affairs and chief
development officer, philanthropy
officer for Inspira and um these are the
folks that actually do the work. So
they'll talk to you about not only the
work that they're doing but the
opportunity that it creates for our
community here and in Spir
um glad to be able to partner with you
all. We know that if we are going to see
improvements in our community as we
think about the fact that we are in a
community where our health outcomes
continue to struggle and um that it's
directly linked right intrinsically to
economic stability. There's a lot for us
to do to move the needle and no entity
can do it alone. The county can't do it
alone. Our municipalities can't. As a
health system, we cannot either. But if
we come together to move the needle, we
surely can. And Matthew Rudd, who is
leading our work with Find Help, is
working with a number of CBOs and we're
hoping to maximize that. And so he'll
talk about it on this evening. We
continue to see um a
decline, if you will, around um
investment in healthcare.
um as we think about what's to come and
we won't get political with it cuz I you
know I think we all have our views but
what is true and constant is that when
we think about our community here we've
made a lot of headway and we might see a
good portion of that diminish um once we
get past midterms and we think about the
Medicaid cuts that are coming our way,
the SNAP cuts and many other things that
uh will ultimately impact not only the
health system but the people here most
importantly that we're serving. So to
ensure that we have resources in place
proactively and together that we can
continue um to move the needle forward
so that we don't lose any ground as
things shift around us. It's critical
that we have these conversations. So
we're grateful for you having us here on
this evening. Before I turn it over to
Matt and Briana who will introduce
themselves and talk a little bit about
their work and then give the
presentation, at the behest of um the
director and deputy director, I was
asked to briefly mention some of the
work that we're doing around substance
use disorder programming throughout our
service region. Um, we recently were
able to put a program in place in
Gloucester County in partnership with
the county that allows us to really
focus on hospitalbased substance use
disorder programming and allows for um
us to support many patients who come
through our doors in a number of ways
that all of us might miss otherwise,
right? But someone comes in because
maybe they have a heart attack, maybe
they have um an issue with their
diabetes or something else and we end up
finding out along the way when they are
in a patient that they have um a
substance use disorder issue. And this
program allows us to not only get the
services in place before they leave our
hospital doors to ensure that success is
set up for the patient and their family,
but it also allows us to be get to come
together as a community and offer
education,
offer services for women who are
pregnant, offer services for patients
between the ages. When I think about our
program in Gloucester County, we have
literally from October, I think it is.
My my colleagues will keep me honest
here. October to February,
um, we served over 229 patients in
Gloucester County. That frankly has less
of an issue than we do here in
Cumberland County. Um, we've been able
to not only help that many patients, but
that many families who love their
spouses, who love their parents, who
love their children, and want to see
them healed. So, we ask um that we think
about the opportunity to do that work
together here in Cumberland and we look
forward to continuing to have the
conversation with you. I'm now going to
turn it over to my colleague Matt Rudd.
Thank you.
>> All right. Thank you for that, Robin.
Um, so Clean for a Reason is a is a
provider that I had not heard of and I'm
guessing you haven't or either. And
Clean for a Reason came onto our radar
when our early intervention team was
working with a family that had young
boys who had autism.
And the boys needed some support. But as
the early intervention team got with the
family, they started to realize there
was more that's going on. and the dad
had a significant cancer diagnosis.
And that diagnosis meant that there was
additional burden on the family. And
when they turned to find help and they
looked up options and support, home
cleaning services for free for someone
in the household who had a cancer
treatment was available to the family
and they were connected through find
help.
That's the example that I think bridges
the the reason why in in spirit is
heavily investing in find help and the
way that we're going upstream using this
platform and trying to support people
with connecting the needs [music] of the
families to the providers and the
community based organizations or CBOS as
they are already here many of them but
we need to help that connection happen
all the more so if you're connecting
uh with me. Let me make sure this is
going forward here. So, here's what um
here's what it's supposed to look like.
And for you in the the uh commissioner
seats here, you've got the presentation
in your folders. For the rest of you,
please follow along. The idea of
building out a trusted network for
Inspirit is essential. So our social
care team is constantly interfacing with
patients as you heard Robin talk about
who have needs that are not necessarily
health specific or they're maybe
upstream. So the idea of a health
navigator recognizing a need through
some sort of screening or patient
interaction would then lead to the
capacity through find help to transmit
that need to community- based provider
electronically, efficiently and
effectively who then can offer the
support and the assistance to that
person in need. they can call the the
the patient, they can call the person,
connect with them, find out what they
need, and then my favorite part is that
they have the capacity within the system
to close the loop. There's actual
transparency and accountability that's
built into the platform. And I'll
briefly describe how that's how that
works. And this idea of closing the loop
with referrals, I think, is something
that we're tracking all the more because
we know the need is great, but
connecting them to the provider needs
more support.
So this is what the dashboard looks
like. And they've got nationwide over
900,000 programs that are inside find
help, which is kind of like saying if
you go to a Google search and you look
up 3 million options, but you only care
about the top five, that's how find help
starts to add efficiency and
effectiveness to the system. So if I was
to put in 08302,
2500 programs come up, but our
realization is not all of them have the
capacity like cleaning for a reason to
bridge the gap between the need and the
patient. And so our uh connection here
is building out the trusted network to
make this all the more effective for our
social care team. And what the beauty of
find help is it also recognizes that
there's the public facing side not just
for our social care team on the clinical
side but that this is currently
available to the public and the ability
to use find help as a directory to
connect needs and solutions is already
in place through find help. And so when
our trusted network builds, it adds to
the capacity of the county as a whole.
And for us, I've been adding community
based organizations, getting them listed
with accurate information and updated
programmatic points of contact. That has
really turned into a lot more searches
that are then turning into referrals
that are connecting with patients and
the general public when a need comes up.
Just like that family that I told you
about at the top, it's zip code based,
so it's proximity driven. And then you
can see the categories ranging from
food, housing, all the way over to work
and legal. And so they're very cognizant
of the types of needs that we have in
our community. And we have our own
dashboard that allows us to track the
analytics and follow up with some of
those closed loops. So, if someone was
looking for help with quitting smoking,
our quit center uh is on here and this
is the program card that's live right
now. If you were to search for this, you
would able to save it as a bookmark like
you would in any browser or if you're
using an app, you could write your own
notes. But my favorite part is the refer
button and that you could click refer
and the information that you were
looking for is now going to track your
information and be sent to the
programmatic point of contact. In this
case, it would go to Tiffany or Marietta
and they would follow up on that patient
with some basic information such as your
name, your email, and the best way to
contact you. and that is now on Tiffany
or Marietta to respond to that patient
which is what happened a few weeks ago
when a patient reached out on Friday and
we had an intake scheduled by Wednesday.
Those are the kind of systems that I
think we're investing heavily in because
the recognition of the need we have to
have more efficiency and effectiveness
to meet that need with the solutions
that are present. So for us, that idea
of closing the loop is by far the the
part that I think we need more help
with.
Let's see if we can get it back. So the
closing the loop allows us to then work
with the community based organizations
and they have dashboards that will show
what referrals have been made and what's
the status of that referral. So for me
to be able to say, Tiffany, did you
follow up? and she's saying, "I have it
scheduled for Wednesday." is all the
more effective because now the person
has trust that that system is active
of the need that they put out there
asking for help. And the more that we
can help [music] people, the more that
we're going to see our social
determinance of health and the patients
that are often [clears throat] coming to
front-end systems and really bearing
burden on that get more and more reduced
as people find the help that they need.
So, next I'm going to turn it over to
Bri and she's going to talk about
expanding access to [clears throat]
>> Great. Thank you, Matt. And first of
all, thank you all for having us here
this evening. I know it's a very busy
time of year, a very busy evening. So,
appreciate you giving us the space to
talk about some of the work that we are
doing. Um, as was mentioned, my name is
Brianna Donnie who I'm the director of
policy and government affairs at
Inspira. And it's no secret that there
are some challenges in health care
currently and ahead. As we look at
changes to um Medicaid status for many p
for many residents in our area and our
our region, that's going to be an impact
on both the county and on our health
system. So some of the ways that we've
been looking to ensure that we can
expand access for our residents and for
our patients to information to resources
and to healthcare to ensure that there
is not a gap as we know that these dates
are coming. One of the things that was
in the one big beautiful bill was the
rural health transformation fund. So
that was a $50 billion fund over five
years for the entire nation. For the
first year this year, New Jersey got
$147 million of those funds. So, we were
very vocal at the table with ensuring
that those dollars were [clears throat]
coming into our region. And we do know
that as they are putting out a number of
grantees, a number of them are in
Cumberland County. As we have been
really trying to elevate the message of
if you're talking about rural and New
Jersey, that's really our region. So
those dollars should be coming into our
area over the next five years. And one
of the things that we applied for at
Inspira was enhancing our find help
program. And the enhancement for our
find help program was a community
engagement suite where it's going to
allow and empower Matt and his team to
reach out further into our communities,
make sure that we are accessing all of
those community- based organizations
that should be part of uh find help
resource. So the more community- based
organizations that we can get into this
program, the the more access that our
residents and our patients have. And I'm
really appreciative to the director and
the deputy director from our
conversation a few months ago where we
were talking through this and you were
like, you know what, we need to make
sure that we provide a space for you all
to talk about this. So, thank you very
much for allowing us this space. Um, if
there are any community organizations
that you think our team should be having
a conversation with, who should be part
of this, please let us know. We want to
really amplify the amazing work of find
help and what Matt and his team are
doing. So, thank you so much.
>> So, we almost You could clap in a
second, SW. So, we we recognize that
this sounds like an episode of Shark
Tank.
However, I'm here to say that we're not
predominantly coming asking for
resources in terms of funding. We're
actually coming to ask for resources in
terms of your promotion and your people
connection. And so the the first ask is
there are some materials that are inside
the folders and I've left some cards at
the entry that you would share and begin
using this as a resource and connect us
to the community based organizations
that should be on here.
>> I tried to log in. It's blocking me
here, but if I went home, I would be
able to log in tonight and start
searching.
>> Absolutely.
Open to the public. And then
if you have people that you want to
track, you could create your own user
account or not. Right. So you have the
option. There's an app.
>> It's like you can sign in through Google
or put your username in.
>> Exactly. Exactly. And then use that uh
whether it's through our site or just
the find help site. They're the same
backend technology.
>> Okay.
>> Yep. So what I have done here uh so
first start using it and share it with
people that have need as well as people
that need to to join us. The second
thing I've done is [music] I've kind of
gone through the county departments
looking at who's already listed find
helps technology has gone through the
web and if there's a web presence pulled
in the information and put it in a
standardized programmatic card format.
So already I've worked with Cheryl with
the division of uh social services and
then Megan was already up with the
department of public health. So both of
those all those programs under those
departments are already listed and
they're listed well with verified
information and and points of contact.
The middle column which is the office of
aging and workforce development have
some information that's up. Also I know
that's not all of the information. So
there should be there's some work that
we could do to get that up into a better
level where the referrals are turned on
or the next steps that people can take
are very clear for those. Everybody on
the right I'm suggesting you could
consider listing. And so the last page
in my um deck here is my contact
information. So, if you would share this
with the department heads to work with
me to get them listed, I would love to
have them on Find Health so that our
social care team can effectively and
efficiently send referrals to the people
who need it most. Thank you very much.
[applause]
Are there any other questions? Happy to
answer if there are any.
>> Anybody in the audience?
>> Thank you very much for coming.
question.
>> So, is is this function something that
social workers used to do?
>> The way that I would describe it is that
it's mostly designed on the clinical
side for helpers who are helping,
>> right? Social
>> like social workers. Okay. If that's all
you needed, then yes, I could go
embellish it all day, but yes is the
short answer. But it's a great tool.
remember social workers. You still have
>> I hope not.
>> We still have them, but it's a tool that
helps them.
>> Okay. Thank you.
>> So, one thing I will add to what Matt
said, um, he asked you to share it with
your networks and departmentwide and
utilize it yourself. But if there are
also while we can't boil the ocean and
be everywhere, if there are events that
make sense for our team to be at, for
Matt to present at and his team, please
let us know and we will we can
accommodate our group and all the time,
but we'll work hard, you know, as hard
as possible to make sure we can be in
some of these places to
>> and many of them already have like the
the HSAs and the kayaks. Some version of
this I've done over 60 times now over
the last year. So, I've been getting
used to presenting on it and it's been a
lot of enthusiasm. What we're finding is
that we need more and more of those
trusted contacts of the people who are
actually going to do the work and take
the steps to get themselves listed.
There is some work involved, but that's
where I'm happy to walk hand inand make
sure that that's done.
All right. Um, one of the things that
we've been working on in the county is
that a lot of people don't even know the
programs we have.
>> That's right.
>> Okay. Uh, and one of the individuals is
right here, the office on aging and is
now working closely with veteran affairs
because we are veterans that are aging
and they now are going to be able to
utilize programs that she had and this
wasn't being done before. Okay. So, I
think it's going to be good. This is
only another level because now once we
get our people to sign on
uh then they will be able to contact our
department heads or our our our
different program to get the programs
that they're going to need
>> and people have no idea the programs
that we are available. There are
tremendous resources that are out there
>> and the resources we have uh a lot of
people don't know that they they have
the opportunity to get that.
>> That's right.
>> So this this would be good that you'll
be actually referring referring these
individuals to this. Is that is that how
I understand it?
>> That's right.
>> That's exactly right. So that would be
the kind of departments that want to do
direct service.
>> Right. So those that are intending to
serve people directly who want names and
contact information of people that are
actively looking for help, that's who
needs to get to you.
>> You're talking about even mental health,
drug, alcohol, all of that. That's the
whole thing.
>> Exactly.
>> Thank you.
>> Good evening. I'm Christy De Leonardo,
Workforce Development. Um I wanted to
just share with you we actually have a
one-stop operator um in Cumberland Salem
and Kate May County and we have invited
um Matt and his team to come and present
in Cumberland Salem and Kate May County
about this particular program. So the
individuals and the entities that come
to these meetings are frankly the
nonprofit organizations. So Matt
actually goes through the entire program
and they sign up and log in right then
and there. and if we miss somebody,
we'll have a separate session just so
that Matt could walk them through step
by step how to log in. So, they've done
a great job and I know there's a lot of
work to do, but we commend all the work
that you've done. So, thank you.
>> Thank you.
>> And just so you know, it's blocking it
from here. So, I don't know if there's a
reason why, but we can't get in it from
here on this network. So, I don't know
if
>> that firewall needs to be taken down.
Yeah, we'll figure that out.
>> We'll figure that out.
>> Thank you so much for coming this
evening. We really appreciate it.
>> Appreciate it.
>> Thank you guys.
>> Thank you.
>> Okay. Resolution to read county budget
by title only. Do I have do I have a
motion and second to read resolution
2023 2026 county budget by title only?
>> So move
>> second.
>> Commissioner Capaza.
>> Yes.
>> Commissioner Garcia.
>> Yes.
>> Commissioner Alino.
>> Yes.
>> Commissioner Sar.
>> Yes.
>> Commissioner Romero.
>> Yes.
>> Deputy director Marshan.
>> Yes.
>> Director Taylor.
>> Yes.
>> Do I have a motion and second to open
public hearing on the 2026 county budget
tax resolution?
Commissioner Capazola.
>> Yes.
>> Commissioner Garcia.
>> Yes.
>> Commissioner Alino.
>> Yes.
>> Commissioner Sara. Yes.
>> Commissioner Romero.
>> Yes.
>> Deputy Director Marshan.
>> Yes.
>> Director Taylor.
>> Yes.
>> Anyone from the public?
>> [clears throat]
>> Can can you ask questions also during
the hearing or is it just the public?
Right now we we'll do the public and
then when the public's done
we would answer questions they already
and then I think
commissioners commissioner responsibil
township
[clears throat] I had submitted a letter
this morning to um the administration.
I'll go over the questions that I have
here and maybe they'll be able to answer
some of them tonight and maybe they'll
have to get back to me on the others. Um
in anticipation of having these issues
adequately addressed before the public
at tonight's meeting and presenting some
of the questions below for your
response. Uh number one was to provide
and explain details included in the
budget on the accounts and amounts
listed below.
There was a a salary adjustment for
$500,000.
I'd like justification on. There's a
difference of $145,000
between um the board of elections and
the clerk's office that I'd like some
explanation.
There's a million82,000
for correction salaries. Um in actually
that's an increase. Um if you could give
me justification for that. there is a
decrease in social services uh welfare.
I'd like to see justification for that.
And uh under the deferred charges, I
understand that that this is the uh 2025
youth detention that was carried over
from last year. But my question was how
many youth did this include?
Uh two, will you please provide detailed
list of expenditures paid from the ARPA
and COVID funds, the ARPA funds and CO
funds? And three, what line item is
lawsuits and judgments paid out of? Does
the county have insurance for lawsuits?
And can you please explain how lawsuits
against the county impact the annual
budget of the county?
And one of the last questions that I
that one of the last that I had
presented for clarification is the
juvenile detention shared services line
item. I find it very concerning that we
have a county 20 thou 2026 budget line
item of $5 million
plus an additional 2 million that we
still have to budget that was deferred
from the 2025 budget. So that's a $7
million budget for juvenile detention
for Cumberland County.
$7 million budget for juvenile detention
for Cumberland County.
That is a learning on so many levels.
But the immediate concern is how do we
stop this trend of investing in the
wrong life cycles of our children?
We're improving our parks
so visitors will want to come here with
their children. But our own children do
not feel safe here.
They are often prisoners in their own
homes out of fear for their own safety.
If the political elite from both parties
can come together to divvy up our
taxpayer dollars
for their political campaigns,
maybe it's time for those same
politicians
to invest in our children's well-being
and safety instead of just focusing on
their political careers.
I've spent a great deal of time
reviewing this county budget and given
the fact that I had to use a flashlight
and a magnifying glass to read the
section of the county budget message
structural budget imbalances page. I
thought it would be helpful to the
taxpayers who are listening to hear what
the professionals are trying to tell us
and have been
which is something [clears throat]
our own leadership has failed to do.
Quote, "The budget is anticipating
approximately 47% of its current fund
balance available.
In recent years, the county's
appropriation reserve lapsing into fund
balance has been significant, but these
were directly tied to under spending
during COVID 19 pandemic and
availability of COVID related funding.
Consequently, the
uh anticipated more in the budget. As a
result,
there must be strict planning in place
to taper the budget reliance on surplus
in the next few years to balance budgets
without fully depleting fund balance.
The 2025 budget was incredibly lean and
as a result nearly 100% of that budget
has been spent down as a result of the
intro at at the date of the introduction
of this budget. This means there will be
minimal to no appropriation reserve
lapsing into fund balance
where fund balance will need to rely on
excess revenues and must curb the usage
of anticipated surplus in years to come.
Wow.
End quote.
At every turn, our systems are set up to
fail from the inside in order to justify
changes that benefit special interest
and party bosses over our own citizens.
This systemic failure has taken place
over the last dozen plus years.
And from what's becoming clearly evident
is that things will not be changing
anytime soon unless we demand and make
change happen. This is our money that
you are spending.
Thank you.
[applause]
Wait, you got one more.
[laughter]
>> Good evening everyone. I'm Nancy Richway
from Upper Deerfield and Fairfield
Townships.
My question about this budget is I
haven't been able to figure out what the
tax increase is going to be.
Is it going to be 3.5 cents
or 3.5%?
There's a difference between cents and
percents.
And when he gave the budget presentation
last month,
I walked away. I didn't know what the
increase was going to be on my taxes.
So, I'd like to know tonight. Thank you.
Oh, hello back. [laughter]
Welcome back. [applause]
Good evening. Wendy Patnney, Upper
Deerfield and Hopewell Township. I just
had a question on the increase in the
budget on the salaries.
It went from 39.1 million to 42.3
million, which reflects an 8.2% 2%
increase. Most of the union contracts
that were renewed, the top one was at
5%.
So, I don't know why we're getting an 8%
increase.
Corrections is reflecting a 10%
increase. Which my second question out
of that is I know PBA 231 was settled I
believe in 2025.
is some of the expenditures in 2025
retropay
and that's why that number is inflated
and consequently the budget's being
inflated
and also contracted services for
corrections is up 31%.
Are we expecting
an influx of more prisoners to send out
to Hudson County or wherever else we're
sending them?
And within the budget of those line
items, are there positions budgeted that
are not filled?
Because we know in conservative budget
planning, appropriations are overstated
and income is understated. I just want
to know if there's any jobs in there
that we keep continually budgeting for,
but they're never filled. And with
respect to Sy's comment on the juvenile
detention, how many juveniles do we have
that we are sending out of the county?
Thank you.
>> Anyone else?
Seeing none, motion to close.
>> Second. Second.
>> Second.
>> Commissioner Capazola.
>> I'm sorry. Yes.
>> Commissioner Garcia.
>> Oh, I'm sorry.
I didn't hear you. I'm sorry.
>> Commissioner Alino.
>> Yes.
>> Commissioner Sorrow. Yes.
>> Commissioner.
>> Yes.
>> Deputy Director Maran.
>> Yes.
>> Director Taylor.
>> Yes.
On the first question, salary adjustment
the 500,000 including in that is the
retro pay. We go back to January 1st of
26.
Other expenses, election direct expense
is uh the five it's actually 145,000.
Under go governor Murphy's law, we um
went to early voting, so we had to
increase the staff.
Uh Kevin, do you want to take that?
>> Sure. Sure, if I may. Um just to give
you a a barometer of where where we have
increased and where others have
increased even loster county um lost
county increased their their spending to
the board of elections in the range of
1.6 to 2.1 million. So ours is at a
modest 145,000 although it's a lot of
money. It's we're we're doing the best
we can. We're holding back as we're
trying to hold down the line as much as
we can.
Um, uh, correction salaries increasing.
Um, I I would ask I would ask, um,
warden, do we have any we haven't had we
haven't added a lot of new staff. We are
still in need of we are greatly in need
of staff and we are still trying to
>> trying to recruit
>> trying to trying to recruit greater
numbers.
>> Correct. Correct.
>> Um,
and I'll come back. Well, while I have
while I have the warden involved, the
question came up about the um the uh the
added expense to um
to the to the jail if I'm not mistaken.
And I would assume that's for contracted
services. That would be services that
the county pays for for a a multitude of
services and and and and work that's
done at the jail. We do have we just we
just spent a large a large in in influx
of money on on some rooftops rooftop
units over the last year and a half. Um
part of the building itself is in dire
need [clears throat] of repair and we're
trying to work through that as an
effective as an effective way we can
>> plumbing emergency
>> plumbing emergencies have been pretty
active lately. Um and that's been that's
been a pretty dramatic thing. Um
the um
I I'll stay I'll stay on Miss Oavo's
list. Um and I'll ask I'll ask um Cheryl
Golden to explain the the justification
for the decrease which is a positive. Is
that correct?
>> Miss Golden.
>> Hi. Hey Kevin. I'm here. So I guess you
would have to see exactly what the
decrease is. I know over the past
several years the county's contribution
to the actual benefit amount has
decreased because there are less people
that are receiving cash assistance under
those programs. So, and that is an
amount that is actually dictated to us
by the state in [clears throat] our
budget. Um but for most funding we've
held flat or we have been able to um
decrease the county share the past
couple years because we maximize the
state and federal dollars that come into
our county for these programs.
>> That's and that's correct. And and all
the all at the same time with a short
shortage in staff uh staff vac or a
shortage of staff to fill vacancies that
are needed. Um and and the number the
number Miss Golden was $348,582
in a decrease.
>> Um
>> yeah,
>> that that sounds about right. Like I
said, it's because of, you know, it's
maximizing the county share and again
that decrease in the county share of the
actual public assistance benefits that
are going out, the cash assistance
benefits.
>> Correct. Correct.
>> Thank you. Thank you very much, Mr.
>> Um. Sure. The next topic would be um the
uh youth detention services uh the two
the 2 million71,000
deferred if I'm not mistaken Mr. That's
the first one from [clears throat] last
year or this year. Is that correct?
>> Y that's a carryover. Um at present the
question was um by two by two members of
the um of the audience the number of
juveniles involved and what what's it
what what this number is based upon is
somewhere in the range of 22 to 24. Is
that correct sir?
>> Yes. What's in that range? Today there's
>> 2419
that are pending and four years.
>> Gotcha. So that's that number per day
costs the county approximately $1,100
per juvenile per day. They're housed
there's only six facilities in the
state. Uh most are up north. Atlanta
County is unavailable to anybody in the
state but Atlantic County now. So
there's actually five left in the state.
We utilize Hudson. We util utilize
ocean. We utilize Mars
um for beds in space on a regular basis.
>> May I make a statement on on this video
with juvenile detention?
What everybody has to realize last year
it was $350
per night.
Last year that went through I think 6
months. After that it went up to 950 or
935
give or take and now it's 1,100.
Now one of the things that we had to
look at okay and hopefully there's a
bill that's up and it might help us out
considerably and that is um people over
the age of 18
when they're incarcerated. All right.
They're juveniles, but they're allowed
to be juveniles according to the current
status up until 26 years old.
Okay? And with the new bill, uh, you're
able to actually bring that up to a
judge and have the person removed and go
into general population. It's totally
absurd to have a 26-y old or a 24 year
old in juvenile because you have your
corrections [clears throat] officers,
your cos that aren't trained for uh
juveniles and you have your juvenile
detention officers that aren't trained
for adults. And that's the situation
that we're in right now. And that's the
situation we're trying to get out of.
But it did increase. If I correct me if
I'm wrong, I originally thought uh M
prosecutor, was it originally last year
down to 15? Now it's up to 24.
>> It's it's been in the average of about
18. The
>> I'm counting the waivers because those
are the some of those are the folks that
you're talking about that might be 18
that are sitting there and if the law
changes can go to the adult prison. But
steadily for the last year, cuz I look
at this every day, we're above 18. I
have a couple individuals, a couple
murder cases where we charge more than
one juvenile in the case. So, um,
>> correct me if I'm wrong, isn't a
majority of our people agree 18?
>> No, not a majority of the people that
are housed, right? But we do have a few
that are housed that are 18 that if that
law passes may
>> go to the adult. Okay.
What what's approximately like the
oldest child or
>> I apologize. I can't tell you. They're
Oh, I actually can tell you. They range
from 16 to 18,
>> but we don't really have 26 year olds in
there with them, do we?
>> I would have to check the ages of the
the waved adults. I'm not sure if
they're that old, but but there is a law
that
>> Okay.
>> that allows you up to 26. I know it
allows it, but is it happening? That's
the
>> I would have to check and see. I don't
think they're that quite that old, but
there are some
>> could be like a 20-y old
>> who committed their crimes when they
were under 18, but have turned 18 since
they were in and and there are
philosophies on whether it's appropriate
to move them or not, depending on what
the outcome of their cases are that we
would have to discuss offline.
>> Okay.
Um so that the the um besido I mentioned
juvenile detention SSA um these dollars
as you can imagine at $1,100 per per
juvenile per night. And in some cases
it's not just the juveniles if you only
have 18. We buy beds. You have to
guarantee beds to just make sure you
have that capability at at any time. And
I ironically the warden and I have
gotten calls on Friday at 11:00 at night
and the JDC determines where you can
take your where you can take your
juveniles. We don't have that authority.
They tell us um and they direct us in
that in that respect and it's so it's
it's quite cumbersome. It's quite
cumbersome and obviously the numbers are
going to be driven to that to that high
escalation point of $5 million on those
shared service on those shared service
categories. Um
the um
you uh Miss Oavito asked about
expenditures for ARPA arba and co um I
think that's pretty much complete it is
there is a little bit Joe who can
>> so the way the ARP funds work um co's
done yes they've been uh completely
thrown out by project
>> um the ARP funds had to have been
encumbered by the end of 24 and they
have to be fully spent by the end of
2026. So everything needs to have had a
project by now and if you don't send it
back.
>> I have those calls coming up actually
other
>> um I don't have a good answer for them
but um the historical records of that
they're actually made to the feds and to
the state. So I imagine that we do have
them on record and can provide it's
public knowledge. There's nothing high.
>> We can get that for you. We can we we
can uh we can go through go through that
and get that for you. We wouldn't have
we wouldn't have that at our fingertips
now.
>> Yeah. Uh the other thing I want to real
quick jump in um
>> the budget last year as modified for
juveniles detention was actually
5,77,936
of which you left $21 left over. So you
spent up to that amount. This year
you're budgeting 5 million. So, on a
technical standpoint, you actually are
down 70 something thousand on a
year-over-year basis.
[clears throat]
Great news.
Um, lawsuit line item in our budget.
There is there is a line item for
lawsuits or is that a general is that a
general expense?
>> Well, I think it really depends on the
on the on the on the suit itself, right?
I mean, it depends if if there's a
judgment, you can pay that over time. If
it's an insurance claim, you could take
it out of the insurance line item,
right? Like that's why you have these
certain things to cover what piece of it
it really is. You're not going to just
say, "All [snorts] right, let's whack a
a line item, per se."
>> Got you really, you generally wouldn't
um do that
>> if it gets to that point. There's only
certain things that we consider the
budget.
>> Yes. Yes.
>> And and more times than not, it's
insurance.
>> It is usually and and yes, we are
insured. We do have two carriers if I'm
not mistaken. I know Chub is one of our
leads. Um, and they cover, they don't
always cover everything in the lawsuit.
They may cover some. They usually will
cover most of it.
>> But I'm only talking about like
sometimes your legal expenses go outside
of insurance. So that gets a separate
item for sure.
>> Yes. So some some of that insurance
revenue goes against our budget
specifically. Some goes directly through
insurance. Depends upon how the case is
mandated.
Um,
and let's see. Um,
I'll I'll roll into Mrs. Ridgeway's
question. Joe, if you'll give us the
explanation of is it zero? Well, 3.5
cents or 3.5%.
Overall, the county is going out 1.8
cents,
>> but again, I don't know how that's going
to translate into house. uh you know so
it's on an overall basis I mean it's 4
is the is the uh is the answer which
translates to a 2.06%
>> we can't hear him
>> oh I'm sorry
>> can't hear the gentleman
>> I can spin for sure sorry
>> um it's going to be a 1.8 cent
um
increase which translates to a 2.06% 06%
increase
on just the rate.
>> So less than two cents
>> less than two cents on the on the rate
>> tax rate.
>> Mhm.
>> That's perfect. Yeah. um to Miss Petron,
Miss Petron's request, an increase in
the budget from 39 to 40
or 42.5.
That was that was salaries if I'm not
mistaken. Is that correct?
>> Total salaries.
>> Okay. So, at this point, you you you you
mentioned a relative 8.2%
increase. Um and but the but you you
noticed a real increase of roughly 10%.
Is that correct?
>> 10% was just incorrections.
>> Yes. So, so to [clears throat] your
point, yes, the PBA officially did get
settled and most of that has been paid
out already, but we also have um five
union contracts that have to be settled
that we're in the process of right now.
So, we're accounting for some of that
ahead of time. That's in our budget. So,
it's not a new appropriation. It's it's
anticipated in our budget for this year.
So there's no there's not going to be
any magic any magic nuclear bomb that
hits us that we're that we're not
prepared for already. Okay. Well, I'm
confused though because earlier
when addressing the salary adjustment
for a half a million, it was stated that
was the retropay and now you're saying
>> some of the retropay and other and other
different different changes.
>> Yeah. Like think of the retrop pay like
let's say we settle a contract, right?
and we settle in July, right? You have
to retro that to 111. So what we try to
do or at least a lot of municipalities
try to do and counties, they try to
budget like just a salary adjustment
line to pull from
is what they try to do. That way you're
not cuz what happens if you go you can't
overexpend a lot and you can only do
transfers at a certain point of the year
where you can take someone that's under
their budget you know you know and take
it put someone that's over their budget.
So you can really what you're trying to
do is eliminate that from happening is
what you're doing was a brand new line
item on this budget.
>> Yeah. I mean that because of the amount
of um labor negotiations. In fact, I was
here all day doing negotiations with um
you know what the county is being faced
with right now. This half a million
dollar line item is addressing.
>> Um we have
>> our future contract to be negotiated
>> as are being negotiated starting in 2026
being being in process right now.
>> Correct.
>> Okay. But was there retropay
incorporated in the 2025 expenditures
that are inflating that number and now
you're increasing it another 10%.
8.2.
>> So we're talking you're talking
specifically about the um pro not
prosecutors correction salary and wage
line right. I'd have to dig into that
and get the details of it. I don't want
to answer out of term as specifically
what's in the in the line item, but what
we can do is give a real breakdown of
it.
>> Thank you.
>> There's not I mean to me there's nothing
to hide on any of this. It's let's just
talk about what it is and how about we
give you that information after I can
dig into Edmonds and pull that data out.
>> Does that make sense?
>> Well, there was a one time retro pay for
the years. Yeah, but that would not have
been in this budget. This year's budget.
I don't think
>> I thought you were questioning last
year.
>> Yeah, I think PBA wasn't PB was 231,
wasn't that a retro 25 or not?
>> PDA 231.
>> Yeah, because it was settled at 24 and
we paid it 25.
>> Yeah, there's a retro.
>> It's possible. It's possible
>> and that contract expired in 19
from 2020 forward
>> because they were all out of contract
all during co
>> Yes.
>> Okay.
>> Um I want to go back to I said the
judgments before. Yes. You are budgeting
$900,000 in judgments.
>> Again that's going to be a debt payment
essentially that is stipulated by local
bond law. Okay. So
>> we have that
>> 900k
in this year's budget 750 last
year.
>> This is also Can you
>> do you hear what he's saying?
>> Yeah, I think about judgments, right?
>> Judgments are governed by a specific
statute how that works and like a lot of
times it happens like I know one of them
is [clears throat]
affordable housing trust. They were
using [snorts] funds out of that, right?
and it was improper and they could take
you to court and just like you got to
give it back that's going to be
considered judgment and then the judge
will tell you all right you're going to
pay this $2.1 million back over 3 years
okay so like that kind of that's
generally what that means that's just
one example I'm not telling you that's
common but I know that um we have detail
too here
>> um I think um
positions. I think I think Miss Pony
asked about about positions. Um our goal
from in most cases we we don't try and
negate those positions. We never try to
negate positions for public safety,
which includes prosecutor, which
includes jail, which includes uh
sheriff's department. So those there's
always a great need and there's always
[clears throat] a lack of staffing
response in that respect. But those
areas we do not we do not remove those
if and and and
social services for Miss Golden as she
was speaking. She she continually needs
to replenish her staff because they move
on they don't last or move up the
ladder. She has the largest single unit
in the county. She is the largest group
of employees in the county for any
department by far. So that's a constant
that's a constant activity there and we
don't look to cut those because they
need them and they're actually
increasing their amount of activity next
year. So the only thing I'll add it's
it's kind of like just you know when you
look at like you say underbudgeted
positions right or positions that aren't
fully being used for the whole entire
year. Let's say we're budgeting for uh
let's let's just say 200 you know
corruption issues. I'll just make up a
number and all throughout the year you
budget you had 195.
Now we could go back in time and say how
you going to be 195. We can just budget
right at it. Problem is you won't
regenerate surplus. So like what do you
what do you do there when you do have
those gaps that you can actually
regenerate funds for future use and
we're using so much of it. You know, you
you can go with a lean budget, even
leaner than this, and really rider
on a line so thin, but it comes with,
you know, different challenges and
pitfalls. That's that's the piece of it.
But sometimes you get good hiring cycles
and you max out and say, "Hey, we
finally have every every position
filled." And that's ultimately the goal
of the board is is my is the way I
always look at it. And it goes back to
the taxpayers eventually. Let's say we
have that half a million dollar salary
adjustment line and let's say there it's
not fully needed right away. Well, that
goes back into our reserve fund balance
that was mentioned earlier and then we
get to use that and bring it into future
budgets. So like there's good and there
it's there just in case but you know
it's also there to go back to you. Yes,
that's the way I would the way I would
work. Just so you you think about the
whole ecosystem of the budget.
Um and I think that I think that we've
touched every topic. We have a few
things we need to get back to the public
on. We can do that um as we as we get
that put back together. But I think
we've got everything.
>> Okay. At this time, I would like um to
ask the commissioners if they have any
questions. Remember, this is about
questions only. It's not about making
statements or comments.
Um, Commissioner Alena, do you have any
questions?
>> Did we make any cuts at all in the
budget over last year's?
>> Um, is a question directly to me?
>> I'll I'll I'll ask you to answer. I'll
ask I just want to make sure
turn. Um,
I can tell you that the way most of
these budget processes work, it's like
you you you talk to every department.
>> Exactly. Right. And you say, "What what
is the need here today? Where are the
contract negotiations of where our
people are and how the how in the world
do we stay under the cap, right?" Like
that's ultimately my job. A lot of times
when we do this and I didn't like lead
the process here, you got to remember I
joined in the April office. So, I miss
those particular meetings, but I could
talk in enough, you know, tongue here
that I know what I'm talking about. But
you you meet with everybody, they give
you your number. A lot of times I like
to put it all in see how much I'm over
cash and then I turn around and I cut
everything back down. And I believe
that's what we we had here. We talked to
Jeffrey Wagon. That's ultimately the way
you do it. You take everyone's ass, you
bring it into the budget, you cut it to
get under the the the leggy cap. and and
and what's what's critical is these
meetings, these budget these pre-budget
meetings that go on with every
department head and many of the
department heads are here tonight uh and
are so they're knowledgeable of it,
greatly knowledgeable. Um there's two
sides of it. There's salary and wages
and then there's operating expenses. Um
and and those two the the salaries and
wages will tend to grow without they'll
grow organically. you don't you don't
you don't have a lot of ability to hold
that back based upon we're mandated
we're mandated to follow the terms of of
the CBAs or any of the unions of which
we have many um
so those are those are mandated we have
no choice but to adhere to that we
account for that uh so we know where our
our money is going to go up every year
we account for that and the and these
salaries and wages but the operating
side is where the creativity and and the
hard work begins. Um, department heads
and in the office as myself and um and
some of our staff from finance did it
last year or did it at the uh going into
the third quarter and fourth quarter of
2025 in preparation for this year. We
basically
looked at what their expenses were to
date. Looked at their looked at the
revisionist history to go backwards even
a year beyond to see exactly where they
were. And we were able to say, you look
like you're in strong position. Are you
doing what are you doing differently? H
how are you making these numbers draw
down? And then we can always adjust.
Department heads as a whole will self
adjust. We'll self adjust by saying,
"Hey, I'm good on this number. I don't
need to increase or I can I can I can I
haven't gone over that $1,000 ever. I
haven't gone over 300 $300. Maybe we
scale it back to 500." That's so that's
an organic constant action going from
the moment we start with the first first
department head all the way to the end.
And then as uh as Mr. Sardo puts it,
there's also a second pull through that
really even purses it out even more and
peels peels more of the banana away and
we get a better view then. But say we
don't usually have a target. The
target's the cap, right? The target's
the cap. That's where we have to get to.
But on a on a on a per department basis,
the expectation is department heads work
hard to keep [clears throat] their
budget expenditures down whenever
possible. They keep their hiring down to
what's mandated and allowed for in the
budget throughout the year. So does that
answer that for you?
>> Yeah. But between the 25 budget and the
26 budget proposed, were there any cuts
in the operating side of anybody's
budget?
>> Oh, many people many people gave back.
And remember, these can go for $500,000.
They're not they're not big bites all at
once. They're they're per department. We
we didn't go we didn't go into the
system and say and say to the department
heads, everybody give me give me 10%
back. Um
they self they self police a lot of
times and and come to us because the
numbers the numbers are clearer on the
screen. When we sit in this room, we go
at it. We see exactly where they're at
year to date and exactly what they spent
this year year to the prior year to
date. we can tell exactly where they're
at and that discussion is very organic
every time. Did you want to
>> just give a simple example like you know
I look at like salaries for streets,
roads and bridges, right? you know it,
you know, last year I mean we were at
1982
19 you know 1.982
million right and you're like well
[clears throat]
we're not going to come in how much so
you transferred money out transferred
100 grand out put it to someone else and
uh you only end up spending 1.76 million
so between the budget that was proposed
in 2025 which was 1.982
this year it's 1.9 952 if that's what
you're asking like there there is a
process of how that's being worked out
and um that's just a an example of it.
Now you could turn and say wow could we
move that a little bit more? You can.
But also keep in mind if you don't leave
anything left over we ran this thing
leaving 10 bucks behind in every line
item. The one way that the county will
regenerate fund balance and surplus is
making sure that we have enough there.
And by law, the CFO, which in this case
is Kevin, is he lawfully cannot
overextend the line,
right? So, you have to make sure there's
enough there. And then we also want to
make sure we're regenerating surplus at
the same time, but not too much. And we
want to make sure we're taking away too
much from the taxpayers at the same
time. So, I think I mean
I think this budget does that
>> to the best of its ability. Um, but I'm
also an open book. If anyone wants
information, wants to dive into
something.
>> I don't think there's there's nothing
hidden, you know.
>> Don't call.
>> Yeah.
>> I want I want to make sure everyone sees
it, understands it, and and then, you
know, we can go down the road.
>> Commissioner Garcia.
>> Yes. Mr. Sarno, how much is the county
paying you as a consultant to come in
and do this budget?
>> How much are they? Well, they're paying
me not just to do the budget, but right
now um as they're looking for a CFO, we
have a um a contractor [clears throat]
not to exceed 52
>> Yeah. 52
>> 2,000 or so exactly is what we're doing.
And that's that's hourly. It's that's
based upon hours.
>> We only pay for hours.
>> $52 an hour. 52,000,000
not,000.
Yeah. And you're going to if you look at
our bills um my rate's 175 now
>> and is there a requirement to disclose
whether you've made any political
contributions to any
>> 100% there is
>> okay and have you made any
>> so this was a nonfair and open contract
which means I am prohibited from giving
to any political party in this town.
>> Thank you for clearing that up and Mr.
Smileado. So I asked had several
questions after the last meeting uh
regarding our fiscal policies regarding
um revenue and um and so you provided
that today but I had asked for it a
couple of weeks ago.
>> I thought that I thought I had
previously because I had a big file and
I was kicking and pulled but I
understand.
>> So this was from 2014. I haven't had a
chance to review it entirely but so we
are accountable to have fiscal
responsibility and raise revenue every
every year. Is that correct?
>> Correct.
>> Okay. And have the board members been
apprised of this um this particular
board because of this budget this year
>> of that resolution? Yeah. No, because
it's and as I had mentioned in my state
when I responded to you today, uh
resolutions are more of a of a of a
yearly tool and vehicle. Um because the
the finance policy and the and the and
the monetary policy is usually geared
towards a yearly basis. Times things
have changed. I mean, ever since CO hit,
all bets have been off as we know and
and all of a sudden prices have swelled
dramatically and usually that that that
kind of a resolution requires an annual
an annual renewal.
>> No, I understand. But it its purpose is
to strengthen the financial position of
the county and preserve financial.
>> That's correct. That's correct. So, in
in saying that, the contract that was
signed in uh April of 2024 by Director
Silio, then director um regarding the
Hudson County uh transportation of our
inmates there, that has been in
existence since 2024. Did we
>> actually was before that,
>> right? But the contract was signed April
23rd, 2024. Is uh and regardless of how
many actual numbers, so we're losing
money every single uh year. So, did the
does the county take that into
consideration when planning? In other
words, we're tapping our reserves, but
we're not increasing taxes little by
little to meet that demand.
>> That's probably right. Yes.
>> Okay.
And um are you aware that Carmelan
County, the poorest county in New Jersey
has raised taxes uh a percentage of
amount raised by taxation is 10.47 47
is the highest in the state of New
Jersey.
>> I did not know that.
>> The highest double digits. Most of the
other counties are less than double
digits. The poorest county in New Jersey
has the highest tax increase in our
budget.
>> That's all I have.
>> So, actually, I'm going to piggy Oh, I'm
sorry.
>> Go ahead.
>> Were you about to go to me? I'm sorry. I
apologize. Sorry about that.
>> Um, I'm going to piggy back off of that.
So when you uh spoke to somebody earlier
and you said something about 2%. It's
really 10.4%. Correct. Or am I wrong?
Can you explain that? So so in layman's
terms.
>> Absolutely. So the you can look at the
actual tax levy amount right pure
dollars. Yes, it is going up the uh 10%
number. However, when we look at tax
rate, you get you get taxed right on the
rate on the property that you own.
>> Mhm.
>> And because
ratables have gone up 8% or eight and
change
and the rate itself is only going up 2%.
>> Okay, that's really how that works.
>> Correct. But in layman's terms, when
people ask how much are the taxes going
up, they go by percentage and they go by
a penny and they said we say, "Oh, it's
2 cents. It's 3 cents." But this year
it's 10.4 cents.
>> No, it's not.
>> That's why that's why I want you to
explain that.
>> It's 2 cents. But the rateables changes
that.
>> That's correct.
I just think it's like it's not nuts. I
mean, you look at there's certain
municipalities in, you know, Mammoth
County that we deal with, double digit
increases on that and then they could
turn around and raise the gross re like
think about it this way. They can raise
the gross of it up 7%. But because it
went up 14, they could say, "Huh, it's a
4 cent decrease or 7 cent decrease."
>> You know, you can really, it depends on
how you you look at it because you could
say, "Well, the value of your home went
up so much, right?"
>> I just wanted that explained. I
understood that and I asked that
question when we met. I just wanted to
make sure other people understood it. So
that's the main reason.
>> Um and I have a question like can we can
vote on this tonight? Correct.
>> We can. Okay. And and can you explain
why we can't vote on this tonight?
>> Yep. So
>> you can't you can't adopt a budget
without the approval of DLGS this year.
>> You're not in self-re. So we said um you
know after our introduction uh the
budget was sent to the state for the
review
they are so far behind that the division
right that they came back with comments
for us to address on Friday night I mean
Kevin didn't see this until Monday
>> and they're asking one of the there's a
lot of clerical things that need to be
changed within some of the workbooks
that lead into the budget but one of the
um um the curveballs that was thrown was
they [clears throat] disallowed us
taking a deferred charge until it was a
levy cap calculation
>> emergency appropriations from the 2025
number
>> saying well you didn't have notes for it
so it's not technically an emergency so
the solution to that is we're going to
grab more data from our shared services
that we talked about with um Hudson can
counties
>> so we're kind of beholden to them until
they get us that information. We can't
vote on this.
>> You can't vote on tonight. No,
>> but we can't even vote on it until we
get that information from those
counties.
>> I can't They have to like I have to give
it to them. They have to give a blessing
really to Kevin
>> and then I can turn around and say then
you guys could have your up and down.
>> So, here's my question to Kevin. How is
our relationship with those counties to
get that done in a timely manner? That's
what I'm worried about. enough
relationships there um within
all of these that we can we can we'll
make the calls as we need
>> we will we'll involve the state too
they're not [clears throat] giving us
this data that feeds into our workbooks
>> I mean it it's literally against
everything you're saying so I feel very
confident we'll get it and we will knock
the door down to get it soon
>> $2 million cap impact some somewhere in
that range
>> you know it could be but I'm also
confident that we'll get $2 million back
by doing this. Thankfully, we
>> had somebody in our state, Tina Zap,
Zapiani, whatever.
>> That's part of the
>> she's she's not she's no longer with it
and the person is not going to rubber
stamp it. So, this could hold things up.
>> The division
>> I shouldn't say rubber stamp really had
turnover.
>> All the all the good old times we all
knew, right? They all retired.
>> 40 years in it.
>> Yeah. No statements, only questions at
this period. So, you know, think about
four years of experience and CFOs would
just call her and she was
and you know, you got to give the new
director, you know, a chance here, but
it is it's hurting a lot of
municipalities and they're getting this
like the last minute and it's one by one
they're all pushing the budgets up. So,
they're having hearings and then like
coming back at later.
>> So, it's isn't something we should be
worried about? That's my main question.
>> I don't think so because it's not you're
not the only one. Okay. Okay. I know
clients have the same thing and they're
just like, "What do we do?" And I'm
like, "I want an answer for you."
>> Okay. Thank you.
>> You're welcome.
>> We're going this way. Commissioner S.
>> Yes or no? Isn't this budget mainly was
developed by Ridgeway?
>> Mostly assets.
>> Okay.
This is the same gentleman who the whole
time I've been on this board and even
when I was on the board with other CFOs,
[clears throat] I've never seen an
individual do a budget without getting a
comment. Now, every time he ever did
something when I was on this board, he
never even got a comment from the state.
You're
>> asking a question that the state
>> No, I'm asking. Okay. Am I correct?
>> That's that was my understanding.
>> And the reason why I'm asking that
question is because here you have the
state
asking all this stuff from an individual
that never got one remark from all the
budgets he's done for this county.
>> But and I think but I think taking the
step further to what Mr. Mr. SH said
that the new people are are not and I
think you would ask this as well
commissioner capel the difference in
Tina who would just make pick up the
phone make a call and say yeah okay I
got you now it's people who are not
going
>> we would have two weeks
>> to address the comments
>> yes
>> a lot of times you would get you would
submit the budget right we introduced
this last month right fire that thing
off you you it was the expectation was I
had any budget comments Any little
changes I had to make, any little
explanation, done.
>> Exactly.
>> Within 2 weeks. Now they're asking for
why does this go up or down? That's
never happened before. So that's a whole
new regime.
>> You found that out yesterday.
>> Yeah.
>> We came into it and actually
>> and it's not like super terrible like I
I'm confident enough that we'll get
through it without having to really
amend the budget. You know, fingers
crossed here that we get, you know, I'm
confident we'll get it.
Still, it's we're not lying.
>> A little while that, you know, assuming
board here has to wait.
>> No, it's already in. It was I I hit the
submit button the morning after the la
the morning after the meeting that we
presented.
>> So, we're okay with that time
>> presented. Now everything is once it's
in their hands there's no you know
there's no I mean some of the items that
they requested
>> were included in in the budget in the
budget submission
>> and they either missed them you know
whoever knows who knows I mean it's a
pretty big it's an ominous document
let's face it it's a massive document
and consequently
you know this one gentleman was you know
sending it out Friday sending it out
Friday night is a little dangerous so
I'm sorry. I'm I'm I'm [laughter] I'm I
was trying to give every commissioner.
So, you can't go back and forth, Kevin.
>> Got you. Sorry about that.
>> But since we did,
>> Commissioner Garcia, you have
>> Thank you. So, my question uh is to you
Kevin, do you receive a stipen as CFO,
acting CFO?
>> Not at this time. I do not.
>> Okay. So, when Jeff Rididgeway left in
March, he said he sent out an email
saying that the budget was 99% complete.
>> Correct. I asked for a copy of that, but
I didn't get a copy. I've asked for it
several times. I didn't get a copy of
that. I know that he's on the committee.
He also asked for a copy of that. And he
keeps telling us it's the same, but you
know, I'm elected as we all are. And if
I asked for a copy of your package, it
it was included in there, wasn't it?
>> I don't think it was. I'll have to look
and see.
>> I'll I'll check with Mr. Bon tempmpo or
a finance finance man
>> cuz I basically I thought I grabbed
every document in that folder and sent
it but I'll confirm that but it's it's
basically this was Jeff Ridway's budget
um before he left he said he and you
would ask because it was specifically
the date in March because it was I think
our meeting was in February when we
first looked at it in [snorts] budget we
all looked at it together that night
when the when the finance committee
looked at it but then it was moved
forward in in March. So,
>> okay, we're done on this stuff.
[laughter]
>> Commissioner, sorry, are you finished?
>> I'm done.
>> Commissioner Romero,
>> well, I'm afraid of saying anything
because it's going to all change in
about one more month.
>> So, I encourage passing this
question.
>> Sure.
>> All right, Mr. Sarno, I know we talked
about this a little bit and I think this
is the confusion. We're talking about it
going up percentages and pennies and
yada yada yada. And I think most people
are just like, hey, how's this going to
affect my tax bill? Right now, I think
the answer is you're not going to know
that till you get your tax bill because
it is based on whichever municipality
you live in or two municipalities and
also what your assessed value is. Right.
That's a fair statement. Okay.
>> So, but based on the numbers that you
gave us, it appear that commercial
township was flat and that was due to
the equalization. Is that correct?
>> That's right.
>> All right. So, they will receive no tax
increase in commercial township.
Is that fair to say?
>> That's right.
>> But if you live anywhere else other than
commercial township, you will be
receiving a tax increase from this
budget. Correct.
>> Correct.
>> Okay. And approximately it's going to
look like about $20 per month. Is that a
fair?
>> That is.
>> All right. So, the average assessed
home, I think we had it broken down at
$150,000.
So, if you live in Bridton, Bland,
Milville, the average taxpayer is going
to be paying about an extra $20 per
month. Now that could change and vary
based on assessed value. Fair to say
that's all I got.
>> Be real short.
>> Are there any cuts in this budget? Is
there any fluff?
>> Who's blocking it?
>> Any extras?
>> Any gold toilets going in?
>> I think I touch $2,000.
>> I'm going to give an answer here because
I talk about it a little bit. You know,
how do I say this right? We have fund
balance on one side. How do we
regenerate the fund balance? It's money
that's left over. Now, can you budget a
little bit more there so that you're
regenerating it? You can. Um, you know,
and I if you I would say that we are
safe in this budget where we are, you
know, and
um,
you know, it's just an ambiguous way of
looking at it. Is there enough there to
cover everything? Yes, in more cases
than not. I mean, you last year would be
the case study, right? We have enough
money on the reserve side of it that
made its way there. I mean, I'd be lying
to you saying that there's not money
left over. Of course, it is. You know,
you had a,
you know, millions of dollars that would
be there. But if we cut that all down,
we had everything budgeted within $10,
you're not going to regenerate that in
fund balance. you have to be perfect,
which no one really is because you don't
know how the year is going to go.
>> And and to to your point, Mr. Sarno, as
well, we talked about salary and wages
specifically in public works uh public
works streets and roads. Um
[clears throat] we had two
modestly aggravating, painful snowstorms
January and February. If we had a longer
period, we had ice, but if we had a
longer, we had a longer more
uh more intense storms, three or four
storms,
that that 100,000. Was it 100,000 or was
it what was the amount that was carry
pulled out and moved on?
>> No, it was 100.
>> It was about 100,000. We'd have been
over. We would have been over. Um, so
they look at they look at those numbers
very cautiously and make sure that
we're not adding fluff. We're we're
being prepared. You know, last year we
spent four, five, 600,000 just in salt.
I think it was a massive number. We
hadn't had a we hadn't had a strong
winter in several years. Um, we had been
sitting on a reserve of salt for
probably 3 years available in our in our
bank went out the door in a storm
and then we have to start buying and
then last year we had big storms
specifically with the ice storm. It
would melt a little bit then freeze and
we'd have to resolve. So that those are
the kind of issues that we always you
always have to be ready for in a budget.
You always have to be ready for it. I'm
praying you don't have to use it.
Well, thank you for that. I know I took
a little extra time because I wanted to
make sure not only did the public have
their questions answered, but also the
commissioners and keep in mind the
commissioners have had several weeks to
reach out to um Joe Sorno to get their
questions answered. So, I appreciate
everybody, you know, putting in a little
extra time having some of their
questions answered. And I thank you for
>> uh taking all the time with with
everybody tonight. And I need a motion
to close public
>> session. We did not do that, right?
>> We did. We did.
>> Okay. So, um you need a motion to table
resolution.
>> Yep. So, the next thing is I I do need a
motion to table
the budget.
>> Second.
Commissioner Capazola.
>> Tabling the budget. Yes.
>> Commissioner Garcia Biki.
>> Yes.
>> Commissioner Alino.
>> Yes.
>> Commissioner Sorrow.
>> Yes.
>> Commissioner Romero.
>> Yes.
>> Deputy Director Mar.
>> Yes.
>> Director Taylor.
>> Yes.
>> Can I ask one question? Just want to
know about how how long do you think
we'll be able to vote on a budget?
>> Yeah. You know, we talked about this
because it's it's hard. Like if it was
if I knew I needed a week, I turn around
and get a special meeting. Right. Kevin,
maybe hold the audience here. You got
4th of July and maybe we try to do this
because you always want a budget adopted
as soon as possible. Um, your next
meeting is July 21st. It may make sense
to go to keep it that far, but but if we
start getting the information sooner and
the state approves our budget, um, I'll
keep everyone, you know, through Kevin
um, apprised of everything that's
happening. totally transparent of like
when we're getting the information and
let's say I need to make an amendment to
the budget. Let's say I oh I only got a
million and a half. We got half a
million dollars. I will come back to the
commissioners here and say hey here's
what we're looking at.
>> So the commissioners have up to a month
to ask you more questions.
>> They can. Yeah.
>> Okay.
>> That's what we're going to I'd say
before we left your office was like
[clears throat] let's just leave it on
the way it is.
>> Yes.
>> Is probably the right move unless we get
lucky.
>> Is there a mandated date that it has to
be? This is a this is interesting,
right? Like um you know, you wanted to
get the budget done now. This would have
been like the mandated date, but how can
you do that when the state's given you
till Friday, like the night before? So,
when I talked to folks this their
understanding of that, um in fact, I was
talking to one of our other
professionals at the firm. They're like,
if you don't get it done in the next
meeting in July, then they're going to
send letters to the commissioners,
especially if the state's already given
approval to approve. I think it's when
you're dragging your feet and you have a
budget to adopt is when the issues start
to arise. You don't have to worry.
>> Okay.
>> Do I have a motion and second to open
public comment on resolutions only?
>> So move second.
>> All in favor?
>> I
department has comments.
[clears throat]
>> You say department had comments. Not
yet. Don't move on.
>> Seeing none, a motion to close.
>> Second.
[clears throat]
>> All in favor?
>> Department head comments.
>> Mr. Mr. S is going to excuse himself.
>> That's fine. Can you wait for one
second? I'm not going to it's not going
to be long.
>> So, I uh am Jennifer Webb McCry. I
happen to be the Cumberland County
prosecutor. Um I had a chance to look at
the budget. Um we were in negotiations
all day. Thank you, Mr. Sono, for being
here. My salary and wages budget is
being cut by $85,000.
I was told by Jeff Rididgeway I was
getting what I asked for. I'm really not
complaining because I have 115 people.
we go through fluctuations where um we
can't fill all our positions frankly
sometimes and we talk about this often
our starting wages are so low I can't
even get people to come in as legal
secretaries because they can make more
in the private sector but my issue is we
work really hard to prepare these
budgets and if you're going to cut my
salary and wages budget please let us
know about it shame on me for not
looking at it earlier and I know I'm
going to be able to ask you questions.
I'm going to work this out because I
constantly have people leaving and
coming. I just think
there has to be back and forth between,
you know, us and you so that we can
address these issues. I work really hard
to prepare a real budget. This is my
money because I'm a taxpayer here and I
spend it like it's my own money. And I
have a feeling I can ride this out
because we generally don't keep all the
positions filled because I'm very picky
and choosy about who I hire. I want to
hire the right people. I want to hire
qualified people. That is always a
challenge in this county because we just
do not keep up with wages with our
counterparts. I understand we're the
poorest county, but if we don't want to
have a poor mindset, we have to be
thinking long term with long-term
strategies. So, I appreciate that. I
asked for more money in my operating
budget and it appears to me that that
was granted because I need that for
technology and and what have you. But I
just think I'm probably speaking for
most of the department heads. There
really does have to be more dialogue
back and forth. This is a unique year,
Kevin. My hats off to you acting as
acting CFO. But
if we're asking for what we asked for
and we're not going to get it, I don't
think I should read it in a budget. No,
>> I think we should be told about it. I'm
going to be all right. God bless the
child who has their own, but I happen to
be the one constitutional officer that
can file a lawsuit against the board if
my positions are underfunded. So, I
would like the respect of being told
before I see it on a budget line item.
So, those are my comments. Thank you.
>> Any other department?
Good evening, Christy D. Leonardo,
Workforce Development. Um, my department
along with uh employment and training,
we are 100% grant-f funded. 100% grant-f
funded. So, tonight on the agenda, we
are supposed to or you all are supposed
to approve contracts that begin for the
in and out of school youth programs that
begin July 1. So, in addition to that,
we just received our allocation from the
federal government through the New
Jersey Department of Labor, and we
cannot start spending any of those
funds, especially for the in and out of
school youth contracts, until the county
approves the actual budget. So, even
though we're going to approve the
contracts this evening, I cannot have
those contracts begin on July 1 because
we can't spend money we just don't have.
It has to be approved through the actual
budget. Um, so I would really really
hope that there would be a special
meeting and not to wait um until the end
of July to approve the budget. So, I'm
hoping that um everybody will get
together and um and I commend the
director for tonight and I thank you for
allowing all of the dialogue happened
tonight. So, thank you.
>> Thank you.
>> No other departments.
>> Okay.
Consent agenda resolutions. Do I have a
motion and second to vote by consent
agenda on resolutions 2026-338
through 2026-362?
[clears throat]
>> Move a second.
>> Commissioner Capazol, yes.
>> Commissioner Garcia, yes.
>> Commissioner Alino, yes.
>> Commissioner Sars. Commissioner Romero,
>> yes.
>> Deputy Director Marsh, yes.
>> Director Taylor,
>> yes.
>> Do I have a motion and second to adopt
resolutions 2026- 338 through 2026-362
by consent?
>> Second. Sorry,
>> Commissioner Capola. Yes.
>> Commissioner Garcia, yes. Commissioner
Alino,
>> yes.
>> Commissioner Sorrow,
>> yes.
>> Commissioner Romero,
>> yes.
>> Deputy Director Maran,
>> yes.
>> Director T.
Resolution 2026-363.
Resolution awarding a contract for
providing in school youth career
pathways program services in Salem for
Pay County by means of the Cumberland
Salem Pay Workforce Development Board
RFP number 26-16. Do I have a motion and
second? So move second.
>> Commissioner Capazola. Yes. Commissioner
Garcia. Commissioner Alena. Yes.
Commissioner Sar Commissioner Romero.
Deputy Director Maran. Yes. Director
Taylor. Yes. Resolution 2026-264.
Resolution boarding a contract for
providing out of school youth career
pathways programs in Cumberland County
Salem Cumberland Salem and PM County by
means of the Cumberland Salem PME
Workforce Development Board RFP number
26-17. Do I have a motion and second?
>> Second.
Commissioner Cavazol, yes. Commissioner
Percy, Commissioner Ostino, Commissioner
Sorrow, yes, Commissioner Romero, yes.
Deputy Director Marshan, Director
Taylor,
>> yes.
>> Resolution 2026-365.
Resolution awarding specifications for
2024, the road program, Township of
Deerfield, Cumberland County, New
Jersey, bid number 26-22. Do I have a
motion and second?
>> So move second.
>> Commissioner Capazola. Commissioner
Marcia. Commissioner Alino. Commissioner
Sar. Yes.
>> Commissioner Romero.
>> Yes. [clears throat] Deputy Director
Maran. Yes.
>> Director Taylor.
>> Yes.
>> Resolution 2026-366
resolution awarding contract for
specifications for 2025 overlay program
of bridged in Milville and Bine Burough
of Shiloh and townships of Green Witch
Copwell, Lawrence and Upper Deerfield,
Cumberland County, New Jersey. Do I have
a motion to second?
>> So move second.
>> Commissioner Capazola.
>> Yes.
>> Commissioner Garcia. Yes. Commissioner
Ostino. Commissioner Sar. Yes.
Commissioner Romero. Yes.
>> Deputy Director Marsh. Yes.
>> Director Taylor.
>> Yes. Resolution 2026-367.
Resolution awarding contract for
replacement of bridge number 0600-32
[clears throat]
CR733.
>> Do I have a motion and second?
>> So move to second.
>> Commissioner Capazola. Yes. Commissioner
Garcia. Yes.
>> Commissioner Ostina. Yes.
>> Commissioner Sara.
>> Yes.
>> Commissioner Romero. Yes.
>> Deputy Director Manton. Yes.
>> Director Taylor.
>> Yes. Resolution 2026-368,
resolution authorizing assignment of
hearing officer services for appeals of
disciplinary actions by employees of the
county department of corrections. Do I
have a motion? Second.
>> Move.
>> Second.
>> Commissioner Capazola.
>> Yes.
>> Commissioner Garcia Biki.
>> Yes.
>> Commissioner Oino,
>> yes.
>> Commissioner Sorrow,
>> yes.
>> Commissioner Romero,
>> yes.
>> Deputy Director Marsh.
>> So, on this one and the next few that
are coming up, I'm going to be voting
no. And I've had this conversation with
Kevin and the director. I'd really like
to see these come in-house and save the
county some money. So my vote is going
to be no to to send these out.
>> Director Taylor.
>> So my vote's yes. I vote yes because we
have a backlog on um on issues from
where we were we didn't have a HR
person. So and the number is like 25.
So yes, resolution 2026-369,
resolution authorizing assignment of
disciplinary actions of county
department of corrections employees. Do
I have a motion and second?
>> So move second.
>> Commissioner Capola. Commissioner
Garcia,
>> yes.
>> Commissioner Alino, yes.
>> Commissioner Sar, yes.
>> Commissioner, yes.
>> Deputy Director Maran,
>> no. For the same reason.
>> Director Taylor,
>> yes. Resolution 256-370,
resolution authorizing assignment of
disciplinary action of Cumberland County
Division of Social Services employees.
Do I have a motion and second?
>> Move. Second.
>> Commissioner Capzola. Yes.
>> Commissioner Garcia Bleak. Yes.
Commissioner Alino. Yes.
>> Commissioner Sara. Yes.
>> Commissioner Romero.
>> Yes.
>> Deputy Director Marawn.
>> No. For the same reason.
>> Director Taylor.
>> Yes.
>> Resolution 2026-371.
Resolution authorizing assignment of
disciplinary action matter of Cumberland
County Sheriff's Office employee. Do I
have a motion and second? So move
second.
>> Commissioner C. Commissioner Garcia.
>> Yes.
>> Commissioner Alino,
>> yes.
>> Commissioner,
>> yes.
>> Commissioner, no.
>> Deputy Director Marine,
>> no.
>> Director Taylor,
>> yes.
>> Resolution 2026-372,
resolution authorizing the assignment of
disciplinary action matter concerning
Cumberland County Prosecutor's Office
employees. Do I have a motion and
second?
>> So moved. Second.
>> Commissioner Capazol. Commissioner
Garcia Biki.
>> Yes.
>> Commissioner Alino. Commissioner Sorrow.
>> Yes. Commissioner Romero.
>> Yes.
>> Deputy Director Marshan.
>> No. For the same reasons.
>> Director Taylor.
>> Yes. And I would like to state after we
get this stuff caught up then we will be
using in house for for this
or these situations. Resolution 2026-373
resolution authorizing grant agreement
with the New Jersey Department of
Military and Veterans Affairs for
transportation services for veterans. Do
I have a motion and second?
>> So move. Second.
>> Commissioner Capazola.
>> Yes.
>> Commissioner Garcia.
>> Yes. Commissioner Alino, yes.
Commissioner Sar, yes.
>> Commissioner Romero, yes.
>> Deputy Director Maran, Director Taylor,
>> yes.
>> Resolution 2026-374,
resolution authorizing approval to
submit a grant application for the
extreme risk protect over.
>> Do I have a motion to second?
>> So move. Second.
>> Commissioner Capazol. Commissioner
Garcia. Yes.
>> Commissioner Alino. Commissioner Sorrow.
>> Yes.
>> Commissioner Romero.
>> Yes.
>> Deputy Director Maran. Yes. Director
Taylor.
>> Yes. Resolution 2026-375
resolution signing Kavanaaugh and
Kavanaaugh to provide legal services for
civil commitments and representation of
the Cumberland County and the county
adjusters office. Do I have a motion and
second?
>> So move second.
>> Commissioner Capazola. Yes.
>> Commissioner Garcia Biki. Yes.
>> Commissioner Osino. Yes.
>> Commissioner Sara. Yes.
>> Commissioner Romero.
>> Deputy Director Maran. Yes. Director
Taylor.
>> Yes.
>> Resolution [laughter] 2026-376.
Resolution authorizing the subgrant
agreement with the Cumberland County
Approvement Authority Clean Communities
Program. Do I have a motion and second?
>> Move. Second.
>> Commissioner Capazola. Commissioner
Garcia. Yes.
>> Commissioner Ostino. Commissioner
Sorrow. Yes.
>> Commissioner Romero. Yes.
>> Deputy Director Marshon. Yes.
>> Director Taylor.
>> Yes. Resolution 2026-377,
resolution authorizing increase of
monetary sealing for legal expenses of
all matters relating to Victor Bermudez
in accordance with NJAC 5 colon 30-5.3
through NJAC
530-5.5.
Do I have a motion and second?
>> So move second.
>> Commissioner Capazol. Yes. Commissioner
Garcia. Yes.
>> Commissioner Oino. Yes.
>> Commissioner Sorrow. Hopefully this will
end.
>> Commissioner Romero.
Yes.
>> Deputy Director Marshan.
>> Yes.
>> Director Taylor.
>> Yes.
>> Resolution 2026-378,
resolution authorizing increase of
monetary ceiling for the labor matters
involving UAW contract negotiations in
accordance with NJAC 530-5.3
through NJAC col 530-5.5.
Do I have a motion and second?
>> Some move to second.
>> Commissioner Cavazola.
>> They need to get this done and yes.
>> Commissioner Garcia Blei. Yes.
Commissioner Alsino. Yes. Commissioner
Sorrow. Yes.
>> Commissioner Romero.
>> Yes.
>> Deputy Director Marine. Yes. Director
Taylor.
>> Yes. And just a second.
>> Mr. Sarno, thank you for everything.
You're welcome to leave.
>> We can't afford you.
>> I know. I I know. Um the prosecutor
wanted you to stay for her, but you're
welcome to leave. We're
>> I don't think we need
>> We're almost there. We're almost there.
>> Okay.
>> You're off the clock then. I'm sorry.
[laughter] Resolution
2026-379
resolution authorizing increase of
monetary ceiling for providing legal
services for civil commitments and
representation of the county of Kremlin
and the county adjusters's office. Do I
have a motion? Second.
>> Then move second.
>> Commissioner Capazola. Yes. Commissioner
Garcia,
>> can I ask a question? How is that
different from the other one to 375?
What's the difference? the overage from
last year. There's a com the way the way
his contract starts, it starts late and
ends the next year instead of a calendar
year.
>> Okay.
>> Commissioner Oino,
>> yes.
>> Commissioner Sorrow,
>> yes.
>> Commissioner,
>> yes.
>> Deputy Director Maran, yes.
>> Director Taylor,
>> yes.
>> Resolution 2026-380, resolution
Cumberland County, New Jersey,
supporting Revolution New Jersey to
commemorate the 250th anniversary of the
founding of the United States and the
New Jerseys role in the revolution. Do I
have a motion and second?
>> Move.
>> Second.
>> Commissioner [clears throat] Capazol.
Yes.
>> Commissioner Garcia Biki.
>> Yes.
>> Commissioner Alino. Yes. Commissioner
Saro.
>> Commissioner Romero.
>> Yes.
>> Deputy Director Marshan. Yes. Director
Taylor.
>> Yes.
>> Resolution 2026-381.
Resolution authorizing assignment of
litigation matters contact systems
incorporate first county of Cumberland
Superior Court of New Jersey Cumberland
County Law Division docket number CUML
[clears throat]
369-26. Do I have a motion and second?
>> Move. Second.
>> Commissioner Capazol. Yes. Commissioner
Garcia,
>> can you explain what this litigation is?
Uh, Kevin,
>> yes, it's regarding the phone system.
Um, they were a previous um,
they were a sub agent to our previous
supplier. They no longer have a state
contract, but they found their way to
SHI, uh, a vendor of ours, uh, in North
Jersey, and they're,
uh, they were happy that we moved to
Comcast.
>> And this is the one that emailed all of
us, correct?
>> Yes, that is that is correct.
>> They emailed all of us about correct
>> two months ago, maybe.
>> That is correct.
>> Okay. And yes,
>> Commissioner Austin.
>> Yes.
>> Commissioner Sorrow, yes. Commissioner
Romero, [snorts]
>> yes. Yes. Deputy Director Marshan. Yes.
>> Director Taylor.
>> Yes.
>> Resolution 2026-382,
resolution authorizing purchase from New
Jersey State Contract vendor for
purchase of 50 shack bar shield light
fixtures for the Cumberland County
Department. Do I have a motion and
second?
>> So move.
>> Second.
>> Commissioner Capazolda. Yes.
>> Commissioner Garcia Bicki. Yes.
>> Commissioner Ostino. Yes.
>> Commissioner Sorrow.
>> Yes.
>> Commissioner Romero.
>> Yes.
>> Deputy Director Marsh. Yes.
>> Director Taylor.
>> Yes.
>> Resolution 2026-383.
Resolution ratifying authorization for
Kevin Maniato, county business
administrator to effectuate services
with Apple developer program for county
website citizen request mobile app. Do I
have a motion in second?
>> Second.
>> Commissioner Capaza, Commissioner Garcia
Biki.
>> Kevin, can you explain what this is?
>> Yes. as um as a um as a partner in the
Apple um developer program, the county
for no charge is involved and offered
the opportunity to to join to join in
the in the the development plan and help
assist.
>> What's the app that they're developing?
>> Uh it's all the apps that are used by
the county. any of them if they're used
on a if they're used on a um on a an
Apple phone an iPhone basically
they would be you would need an Apple an
Apple app to do that much like if it's
not if it's not an Apple phone or an
iPhone it would be an Android
>> um separate separate u separate uh apps
and the county the county just basically
participates in that program and and
signs on it says that we support
basically all this but there's no cost
to the county and we're treated as a
favorite favored child in this because
we're government agents that's all.
>> Yes.
>> Commissioner Alino Commissioner Sorrow.
>> Yes.
>> Commissioner Romero. Yes.
>> Deputy Director Maran. Yes.
>> Director Taylor.
>> Yes.
>> Resolution 2026-384. Resolution awarding
contract for supplying and delivering
drainage pipe and materials for the
Cland County Department of Public Works
bid number 26-23. Do I have a motion and
second? So move second.
>> Commissioner Capazola. Yes.
>> Commissioner Garcia Biki. Yes.
>> Commissioner Oino.
>> Yes.
>> Commissioner Sorrow. Yes.
>> Commissioner Romero.
>> Yes.
>> Deputy Director Marsh. Yes.
>> Director Taylor. Yes. Resolution
2026-385.
Resolution memorializing ratifying
acceptance and execution of a grant
agreement amendment for the small city
CDBG-C1
grant program for the county of
Cumberland. Do I have a motion and
second?
>> Move. Second.
>> Commissioner Capazola.
>> Yes.
>> Mr. Garcia.
>> Yes.
>> Commissioner Ostino.
>> Yes. Commissioner Sorrow,
>> yes.
>> Commissioner Romero,
>> yes.
>> Deputy Director Maran,
>> yes.
>> Director Taylor,
>> yes.
>> Do I have a motion and second to accept
treasures report as provided?
>> Move. Secondly,
>> all in favor.
>> Do I have a motion and second for
authorizing payment of all wages and
salaries?
>> Secondly.
>> All in favor?
>> Do I have a motion and second to open
public comment for new business?
>> So move. Second. Second. All in favor?
>> I
business.
Told you I was back.
Good evening. Nancy Richway from Upper
Deerfield and Fairfield Townships.
I recommend that you have a special
meeting to get this budget passed as
soon as possible. It's ridiculous that
the budget isn't going to be passed by
the end of June. Thank you.
>> Thank you.
>> See you guys.
>> Thank you, Nancy. Thank you very much.
>> Just a comment. Um there was so much
emphasis on the 10% increase on the
levy.
>> [clears throat]
>> Um, looking at the levy without looking
at the ratables is like looking at half
of the equation. I don't have all the
numbers, but I did have some of them.
From 2015 to 2021, the local levy went
from 89 million to 101 million.
Meanwhile, the ratables pretty much were
flatlined 50 million
from 2022 to 2026.
We went from 103 103,700,000
to 118
while the readables went from 9 billion
to 13 12 billion. It's a 4.3 billion
increase. So you can't look at just the
levy. You also have to look at the
growth in the county and how that tax is
being spread across everybody. to to get
back to fiscal accountability and being
responsible, you have to look at the
whole picture. Okay. The other part is I
took the liberty of Oprah requesting the
settlements, the lawsuit settlements
that have transpired from 22 to 26.
They amount to $9.8
million.
3.6 was just part of the jail. the jail
that was pulled for no reason and never
voted on.
The legal fees associated with all those
lawsuits, 675,000.
So when you're looking for
responsibility, let's look at
everything, not just a little piece.
>> Thank you. Anyone else?
Sorry, I should know better. But
um I'm just going to have to bring up a
couple things. I don't know if you still
have
>> name.
>> Oh, I'm sorry.
Blicky used to be now Robert G from
um used to be. So I'm asking, do we
still have JD AI? It's a joint detention
alternatives initiative. It was a
federal program and it helped lower our
count from 54 down to eight while I was
the warden and it's a it's still up. I
mean it's pretty good count from 54
have 20 some I think you said but I
don't know if you still use that and you
may have some kids locked up that could
be somewhere else. The pro the
alternatives initiative gave you options
that you can do besides putting them in
juven. Next part of that is
we contracted with Burlington County at
the end and closed juvenile detention.
We got the fem that we paid from their
budget what it cost them to house their
juveniles there. These people are
killing you with these stupid ridiculous
rates and it shouldn't be any more than
what it cost them and they're going to
make money on it and that's good but
they don't need to be it's like triple
what it ought to be or maybe more. And
then the last thing is that the
um I don't know where you're at with the
money from the jail, but it sounds like
it might not be a bad idea to build the
general intention center at some point.
And it's probably that's way off. But um
you got the you got the basement put in
there and all the stuff goes with it.
And uh I don't know how I'm in ignorance
how you're going to spend that 97
million I think it is. And um so I would
at least think about doing that and then
you don't have to pay any money. And
then this last thing is the idea that we
pay for beds that are empty is insane. I
don't know who agreed to that. I know I
never would have. And I think at some
point we should stop that because that's
ridiculous. I never charged anybody. I
only charged them for Boston County. I
charged them for how many minutes we
had. had 100
and that's all I joined them for and if
they only had 50 then I would only join
them for 50
minutes and nuts. So that's all. Thank
you.
>> Thank you. Anybody else?
>> Wow.
Motion to close public comment.
>> Second.
All in favor?
>> Excuse me. You want me to address the
juvenile situation at all?
>> You can.
>> The juvenile um the juvenile rates are
are based upon unfortunately um not just
housing but education services and and
many other charges. Um yes, the numbers
are very high in my mind as well. Um uh
the only way to guarantee slots is to
guarantee beds. Um we have we have a
choice. If we don't if we don't pay the
guarantee beds, we have nowhere to put
these shields. And we have they have to
be out of
sight and sound of adults. They cannot
be housed near within within earshot or
anything of of adults. Um,
and I think this goes back sometime if
I'm not mistaken with the same mentality
in in Hudson where we were paying a
guaranteed minimum in beds as well. So,
and and I think I think I think building
a JDC would be a wonderful thing for
this county, but we have no say on the
authority to do that. It's purely based
upon the YJC, which is the Youth Justice
Commission. um they determine all those
all those features. Um I know I know
deputy commissioner I mean deputy um
deputy administrator Liz Vasquez did
speak at at one of the events and
discuss that topic.
>> Sure.
>> Among other topics when it was related
to the juvenile the youth justice or
youth justice commission. Um so there's
it's a real mess in in Trenton right now
with that. They are building a new state
facility at Enor right now. They will be
building one in the center of state and
one up north and they will take they
will take over for what was known as
James
>> for many years. The juvenile prison up
in up in I guess it's cranberry.
>> No cranberry cranberry.
>> Cranberry. Yeah. I'm sorry. But
basically it is um it is it's going to
be in relationship to that. They're
going to spread it out. try and spread
it out.
But you can comment on that if you
>> do do you have a completion date on
that?
>> Uh the one the one at um the one at
Anora I think is pretty close. I think
that was the first one that was started.
Um but that's mostly that is has nothing
to do with the county's housing then
that is in relation to permanent status.
Is that correct?
Jamesburg is for well the facility that
he's talking about that they're
replacing is for youth that are
adjudicated. So the youth that we're
talking about are pre-adjudicated youth.
So they have not either been waved yet
or adjudicated and sent to a program. If
I may, I just want to share uh with Mr.
Gut that I do still chair the juvenile
detention alternatives initiative. I
also serve as the prosecutor's
representative on the state juvenile
detention alternatives initiative
committee which has a meeting tomorrow.
I wrote a letter that I shared with a
previous board where I
somewhat condemned it was written a
comment to the what formerly was called
the JJC somewhat condemning the plan
that was put in place when we started
this process. We did our job very well.
We reduced the number of youth by almost
50% in the state um you know through
juvenile detention alternatives. What
the state did not do well was anticipate
that there would be spikes in juvenile
crime over time. And in our case, it's
violent juvenile crime. Out of the 24
youth that we have in detention, I
believe there's one in there for a bench
warrant today. He'll be out probably
soon, but the the balance of them are
there for first or second degree
offenses. It was foreseeable that there
would be a spike in juvenile crime at
some point when the state went on their
initiative of shared services agreement.
There should have been talks and and
14 of the 21 county counties closed
their detention centers. There should
have been plans on how counties would
manage this. Surely no county should
have to pay more than 20% of what it
costs to house a youth. And that really
has not ever been vetted out and um
solved, so to speak. So [clears throat]
the sending counties are ships in the
middle of the night when we need a bed
trying to find a detention center who
will take our youth. And the receiving
counties, because there's no guard rail
on what they can charge,
generally don't want to take our youth.
We've heard numerous times that our
youth are too violent or they're gang
involved, so they don't want them at
certain facilities. So, what do they do?
They raise the price to discourage it.
>> What really needs to happen is there
needs to be legislation that corrects
this problem. And every chance I get to
bring that up to the Youth Justice
Commission, I bring it up. They say we
have enough beds in New Jersey to house
all of our youth. Therefore, we
shouldn't have to spend money for
infrastructure to do that. What needs to
be solved is the fact that counties who
have facilities should not be able to
charge a big
>> for the housing of our youth. I actually
think it makes sense to plan. So, we
should enter into agreements with
counties to say, "Okay, we're going to
we're going to negotiate with you and
you are going to hold seven beds for
us." That way, the women doesn't have to
be up in the middle of the night begging
for some or Kevin doesn't have to be up
in the middle of the night begging for
somebody to take our youth. But there
needs to be legislation to govern this
area that holds the you justice
commission accountable because
oftentimes they pull pull their hand
backs and say they're helping but
they're not really solving the problem
and also hold the counties that are
receiving our youth to a fair wage for
housing our youth.
>> Thank you. I appreciate that.
>> And I can share that letter. I can
circulate that letter again so that you
can see it
>> about
to to comment on on the prosecutor's
statement. One of the things that
the state doesn't recognize is okay,
they keep saying we have enough beds.
Well, Camden [clears throat] has a
number of beds that are not full. Okay,
the problem is there's no one in order
to be the the the officers to oversee
the you know the juvenile officers. They
don't have the personnel. Are there beds
open? Yes, there are beds open. The
problem that I see is that the state has
such a control over this and they don't
allow the counties to do what they think
is best for their own people. And I
disagree with that wholeheartedly.
And and and until the the the state
starts to release the leash on us, we're
going to have this problem. We're going
to continue to have this problem. This
isn't something that just happened
overnight. This didn't happen five over
5 years, 10 years. It's been ongoing.
When was it that we closed our 2014?
>> I want to say it was approximately that
time. We we brought the count down to
like eight years,
>> right?
>> And when the county closed the detention
center, they saved $12 million. And how
much did they save per year by not
having that many personnel costs and
people? Obviously, what counties do when
they save money is they plug other
holes. But
I can't
>> where I'm getting at this has been going
on since that time.
>> But I cannot I cannot emphasize that
there needs to be some legislation
around and guard rails around this area
so that everybody has a fair shake.
>> Now, isn't it correct that the state of
New Jersey wants to start to be the
individuals to build the facilities and
and then and then house them and start
taking it away from the rest of the
counties?
>> I have not heard I have not heard that
for pre-adjudicated youth. I can inquire
tomorrow, but I have not read that.
They, you know, even when we beg, like
we need somebody to help us fix this
problem, they help, but again, they
can't force counties to
set their wage or agree to take our
kids. There's there's times where we
have a youth that police are sitting on
the youth overnight. They're not
supposed to keep them for more than 6
hours. They're keeping them for 14, 20
hours because we can't find a bed for
them.
>> You started a fire that big guy. We can
stay on this for now.
>> Go ahead. Never mind. Go ahead.
[clears throat]
>> Okay. Motion
close.
>> I think we already did.
>> We did.
>> Okay, we're done. We're just Okay.
Commissioner's report.
Uh, you want to start?
>> Sure.
Since the last meeting, I've been in the
finance committee twice
and discussing the budget. I've spoken
to uh Steve Cervini of the veteran
affairs. He's working at a uh a plan for
the veteran cemetery. We're going to set
it up into sections and have it numbered
or lettered and then have a master list
of who's in what section. so that
friends or relatives that aren't
familiar with it can easily go look at
this master list and find whoever
they're looking for. And there was also
a problem with the concerns about a
neighbor who was encroaching upon the
cemetery's property. They investigated
that and found it wasn't true. I
attended a hope day in Milville which
was a outdoor event. A lot of booth set
up where people could come there and
find out different services available to
them.
I attended the CCT Tech scholarship
ceremony and it was my honor to present
one of the scholarships that I probably
been presenting to either the college
[clears throat] or the tech for the last
15 20 years
Jun breakfast and violent I attended
walkathon and violence for the Spanish
American relief fund
violent cruise night I attended man from
heaven men's recognition
kite and color at the fairground this
past weekend. Very crowded. It great to
see a lot of people there and great to
see a lot of people from out of the
county coming down and visiting our
county where we have to offer
and that's about it.
>> Commissioner Garcia.
>> Yes, I attended uh like Bob uh
Commissioner Mustino, I attended a lot
of those events as well. It was a
wonderful May and June. Um, in
particular, I enjoy attending the
seniors events, the senior spring fling
and the volunteers lunch and the 47th
annual RSVP volunteers recognition
lunchon. Um, so yeah, our calendar's
full. We do a lot of different things,
but congratulations to the county for
bringing all those events to our county,
in particular, the fairgrounds, which is
a good use of our facilities, and people
come from all over and spend their money
here. One of the things that I want to
highlight is announcements. Um, uh,
Christy De Leonardo put out an email
informing us that South Jersey Connects
officially launch launched six free
shuttle routes operating across all
seven South Jersey counties, connecting
existing New Jersey transit lines with
the final few miles needed to access
final destinations, helping workers
access employers and students access
campuses and patients access health
care. Really important information. It's
on our uh, county website, I believe.
and um there's plenty of information. I
know she can share that information. So,
thank you. That was very made me feel
good because I know a lot of our
students struggled to access the other
campus. Um also, I attended um an open
house that the uh Southern Regional Food
Distribution Center had and I was really
impressed. It's one of the facilities
that I chose when I was president of the
bar association to sponsor and do
charitable events to help support their
endeavors. And we're very lucky to have
that here in our county. They have 118
distribution centers in 11 counties.
They produce 3.8 million pounds of food
that were distri I mean they were
distributed in 2025.
Um they served 522,000
individuals. I know we're a poor county,
but boy, what they do, the work that
they do with the resources that they
have is very impressive. And you know,
they they do work to prevent
homelessness. They help students who are
uh there who don't have a family and
they also help families. So, it's a
worthwhile place to visit and support
and you can adopt a student if you want
for $100 for one year to help that
student transition into appropriate
housing and help them with education.
>> And that's all I have. Mr.
>> All right. I want to start off talking
about um what um I was supposed to call
you Sheriff Alino. I'm sorry.
Commissioner Alino. Um sorry to break
that habit. I apologize. Uh,
Commissioner Austinino uh talked about
the uh scholarships at uh CCTech. Um
there was $225,000
in scholarships given out that night.
And it's not just for college students.
It's also for students that are going
out in the workforce. So that's an
amazing number and that's you know what
they're doing over there. What Dina
Rossi is doing with that school and the
administration is amazing. Tomorrow
night is their graduation. So,
congratulations to all the seniors that
are graduating over there and we wish
you nothing but the best of luck. Um, I
want to congratulate uh our county clerk
and our board of elections for another
amazing election, the primary election.
You guys put a lot of hard work in. I
know it's a thankless job, but thank you
for everything you do. And we have a
free affair and election in this county
and they do an amazing job. Can we give
her a big round of applause? [applause]
That's pretty much it. It's we go to a
lot of the same functions. And so you
don't really care all that.
>> Commissioner,
>> do I say the same thing?
>> No, you know, I mean, I went to the CCT
varsity letter Award. Okay. And CC Tech
awards, the RCSJ meet and greet and
conversation where we met with the
college and talked about different uh
situations that we had. Divine fishing
der derby. Uh we all I think we all went
to the Lenny Laape uh pow-wow rock of
salvation man from heaven which was for
great fathers. I thought that was a
really great affair. Uh something that
was good. on the No, no, no. I had two
Zoom meetings with the SJED
on some projects that I actually can't
say anything about just yet that have
proposals that will be coming or might
be coming into South Jersey which could
produce a lot of
a lot of jobs. So, uh we're keeping our
fingers crossed on that. And also, uh we
all attended the fire academy
that Yes. So, that was really great. It
was 21
uh individuals that passed the fire
course on the first try.
>> Mhm. [clears throat]
>> Okay. On the first try. So, I just want
to say I want to com commend all the
instructors over there and also all the
individuals that passed it. It's I think
it's 2,200 hours. Correct me if I'm
wrong. Might be 21. I'm not sure. But I
thought he they said it was 2200 hours
that they had to study and work at. And
uh I think that especially our having
the fire facilities that we have on the
bi
tremendously to uh teach these
individuals. So I just want to say that
uh we're very proud 21 new firefighters
and that's uh it's not a record but when
you think about it we're losing
firefighters and EMS's.
>> Wasn't there a father and daughter?
>> Father and daughter. So that's
interesting where the father actually
followed what the builder did
>> instead of vice versa. But anyway, that
that's his direct. I
>> believe it was 320 hours.
>> 220
. I'm sorry. I'm call by a zero.
Okay.
>> Well, that's a lot. So
>> go ahead.
>> Well, I don't want to go over a lot of
the stuff they went through a lot of
those two. Uh but when I was sitting
down on the jung
uh I was thinking about all these
countries around the world that are not
free. You know, Antigua 1947, they got
theirs from England. Uh Cuba is still
under a government that is killing
thousands of people, starving a lot of
people. Is that part of freedom or is it
a part of what we call
you know taking over a country because
it has wealth you know and uh when I
look at what went on in uh in other
countries like like we we we were there
and they said we took their oil you know
listen how about the freedom of those
people that were given to them you know
I was thinking about that and and some
of these countries are very unfortunate
not to spare his freedom. I mean we, you
know, I I am so gifted and I thank God
every day for being in this country and
uh and and it was very emotional for me
to sit there and and finding out in 1965
they were given their freedom and today
you know I I was I was actually fears
are coming out of my eyes because I'm
still looking for the fear of my own
family in Cuba. So, you know, I just
want you guys to think about that. And
when we make comments about, oh, they
just want this country because of
tourism or they just want this country
because he has petroleum. Think about
the Christians that get caught uh caught
up and killed in those countries just
because they are Christians. We
shouldn't be killing people for any
religion whatsoever.
Whether you're Muslim, Christian,
whatever, Buddhist, whatever. you know,
we all have we all believe on on
somebody.
So, I just wanted you guys to think what
was going on my mind uh when we were
speaking about AP65
and and and uh you know, just pray that
some some people see it the way I see
it, you know, and and that's what I have
to say.
>> Thank Glad you're here,
>> Commissioner Moran.
>> Thank you. So, I know it was touched on
a little bit earlier, but our
fairgrounds is a real gym. I've been to
a few events over there recently with
the Powow and the Kite and Color
Festival, and they were great events.
Learned a lot, a lot of fun uh to be
there. But you can also see that that
the investment that we put into these
fairgrounds were being noticed. Uh
people putting them on, vendors. I got a
number of comments saying noticing all
the improvements, thanking our public
works for what a great job they did and
getting the grounds prepared. So, just
attending the events was great in and of
itself, but it was also nice to hear
that and know that our county is is is
doing what we want to do to move forward
to make sure that we have those events
to come here. All these other events we
talked about, they're fantastic. The
firefighter graduation, that was a great
experience. 21 uh firefighters, new
firefighters, we have 220 hours was
talked about. Fantastic. Um, Shiloh had
a 250th uh anniversary and this is a
funny one. It was an event that just
sprouted up out of nowhere. I heard
about it like an hour or two before the
event right around the corner from me.
He said, "Sure, I'm going to go to
that." I got to tell you guys, I think
the entire town of Shiloh showed up. The
place was packed. I couldn't believe it.
It was great. It was a a nice ceremony
and it was it was great to see so many
people come out for that. when we got
Fourth of July right around the corner,
the 250th anniversary. It was it was a
nice um preempt to that. So, that was a
beautiful ceremony. And then we also
have all these graduations that have
either happened with the middle schools
or happened with the high schools.
[clears throat]
So, let me be one to say, you know,
congratulations to the class of 2026.
So, hopefully I'll attend some of these
graduations and and watch some of these
young men and women graduate. They're
always beautiful ceremonies. So, that's
all I have. Thank you.
>> Thank you. I I as well attended a lot of
events. One of the events that wasn't me
mentioned was um
the the museum, the historical society
in Vinland. That was a great event and
and it was in honor of the 250th
anniversary. Dawn Hunter was Lady
Liberty. It's great sport, I got to tell
you. So, I I did want to um give a shout
out to those folks that showed up and in
a period of time was uh very nice. I do
want to give a shout out to Matt
Pazarski as we talk about the
fairgrounds. He's the man that's making
it all happen. So, I'm very happy TO
[applause]
have a lot of paint at the kit and
color. [laughter]
>> It was fun. And I'd also like to
congratulate all the graduates. That's
all I have. And um we need have a need
for executive session.
>> Not motion to
second.
>> Second. All
>> in favor.
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