TRENTON — More oversight of the New Jersey Association of Counties would overtax the lobbying group and the elected officials who oversee it, Bergen County Freeholder James Carroll told the group today. “Great idea if we met the way our freeholder board met, a couple of times a month,” he said. “Here it can be only six times a year....
TRENTON — More oversight of the New Jersey Association of Counties would overtax the lobbying group and the elected officials who oversee it, Bergen County Freeholder James Carroll told the group today.
“Great idea if we met the way our freeholder board met, a couple of times a month,” he said. “Here it can be only six times a year. It would be an undue burden on the organization.”
Carroll, a member of the group’s executive board, said a recent audit “clearly shows that everything is there; transparency is there.”
The audit, by Suplee, Clooney & Co. of Westfield, identified a number of concerns about the lobbying group and its non-profit foundation and a related limited-liability corporation, including compensation for the executive director, misstatements on IRS filings and questionable credit-card practices.
Somerset County Freeholder Peter Palmer in a file photo.Peter Palmer, a Somerset County freeholder who heads the association’s board of directors, distributed the auditor’s findings and recommendations to 22 trustees in July, in envelopes marked “Personal” and mailed to county offices throughout the state. Palmer included a letter saying that according to his county counsel, the audit could be exempt from examination under the state’s Open Public Records Act so long as officials kept it “solely in your personal possession.”
The Record obtained the documents from two counties that considered them part of the public record.
The directors ordered the audit after reports in The Record raised questions about the association’s finances and examined how its staff, who are not government employees, became eligible for taxpayer-financed pensions and lifetime health benefits. Several directors were unaware that salary for the executive director, Celeste Carpiano, had risen to $205,000 and she was driving a Lexus sedan with a lease and insurance paid by the association.
The board today agreed to accept the audit’s recommendations to regulate the executive director’s salary, correct IRS misstatements and make other changes. But members reached no consensus on whether to share the group’s financial information with taxpayers, who hand over $200,000 in dues each year.
Jeffrey Parrott, a Sussex freeholder, suggested that quarterly financial reports be placed online. But Carol Clark, an Essex freeholder who serves on the association’s executive board, said that information should be available only to dues-paying members.
“That way they are shared with every freeholder — that is, every county that chooses to be a member,” Clark said. “If they choose not to be a member of NJAC, then I don’t think you’re entitled to anything.”
The group has a history of denying information to its members. Hunterdon County — which paid nearly $6,000 a year in dues — declined to renew its membership last year after Carpiano turned down its freeholders’ requests for her salary. IRS forms obtained by The Record showed that Carpiano’s pay had risen 58 percent in six years, to $205,000. If she retires as planned in January, she will be entitled to a state pension of roughly $105,600 a year, plus health benefits.
Burlington and Camden counties did not rejoin this year. Bergen County, which pays the highest dues — $15,580 — has no plans to leave.
“Over the past few months there’s been quite a bit of sensationalism in the newspaper about what’s going down at NJAC,” Carroll told board members. “I think it’s a wonderful organization.”
Previous coverage:
• N.J. Association of Counties executive director plans to leave job after spending criticism
• 'Excessive' pay, benefits at N.J. Association of Counties are up for discussion
• N.J. Association of Counties faces audit after questions about expenses, salaries