A report from New Jersey Watchdog reveals that 17 of the state's 21 sheriffs earn a salary and a pension.
Warren and Hunterdon counties’ sheriffs are among nine sheriffs who collect a pension on top of their six-figure salary and who won re-election last week, The Star-Ledger reports.
A report from New Jersey Watchdog reveals that 17 of the state’s 21 sheriffs are what the website calls “double-dippers.”
In Warren County, Sheriff David P. Gallant ranks sixth out of the 17, with total annual compensation of $206,464. That includes his salary of $124,084 and, from his 26-year career with the New Jersey State Police, a pension of $82,380.
Hunterdon County Sheriff Frederick Brown, a 31-year veteran of the Raritan Township Police Department, comes in 12th on the list. His total annual compensation is $191,013, with his salary of $109,185 and $81,828 pension.
Combining the 17 sheriffs’ compensation plus that of 29 undersheriffs who earn salaries and pensions, including two each in Warren and Hunterdon counties, New Jersey Watchdog determined the average of the double-dippers’ compensation is $181,033: $107,145 in salary and $73,888 in pension.
Brown, a Republican, won re-election to a second three-year term over Democrat Paul Carluccio, a retired special education teacher. Brown did not immediately respond Wednesday to a phone call or email seeking comment.
Gallant was uncontested in the Nov. 5 general election, after winning a protracted primary battle against Washington Township police Chief James McDonald. McDonald challenged the results, and Gallant didn’t secure the party’s nod until he and McDonald agreed to a settlement Aug. 20 in state Superior Court in Somerville, N.J., declaring Gallant the winner of the June 4 vote.
Gallant, who also served as Warren County public safety director for six years, said Wednesday he recognizes how fortunate he is and that other workers don’t enjoy a salary plus pension.
“It’s a result of a contract that I signed with the state back when I was a recruit in 1977,” he told The Express-Times, also saying: “I’m paid handsomely and recognize that, and I’m willing to work hard while I’m in this seat.”
Gallant noted that shortly after being sworn-in in 2011, following his 2010 election to sheriff, Warren County freeholders added oversight of county corrections to his responsibilities.
“That did come with a boost in salary, but my staff went from 23 to over 100, plus accepting the responsibility of upwards of 150 inmates at any given time and a budget nearing $9 million,” he said.
“That’s helped consolidate and coordinate operations between the corrections center and the courthouse side of the sheriff’s office, which had been separate entities before,” he continued. “And we’ve identified some efficiencies and we’re sharing resources, sharing vehicles, making better use of personnel and we’re working together in harmony.”
Gallant said the state still covers his benefits, so the county doesn’t have to, and that he didn’t accept a raise for 2013 and doesn’t plan to for 2014 or beyond that. The sheriff’s term is for three years.
According to The Star-Ledger, eight of the 17 named in the New Jersey Watchdog report are Democrats and nine are Republicans. In addition to Warren and Hunterdon, voters in Bergen, Middlesex, Morris, Passaic, Somerset, Sussex and Union counties gave their sheriffs who already collect pensions another term in office.
The highest-paid sheriff in New Jersey is Bergen’s Michael Saudino, who is paid $138,000 on top of his $129,984 pension. Saudino is the former police chief in Emerson, The Star-Ledger reports.
The only four sheriffs not on the New Jersey Watchdog list of double-dippers, according to the newspaper’s report, are:
- Frank Balles, Atlantic,
- Shaun Golden, Monmouth,
- Frank Schillari, Hudson, and
- Jean E. Stanfield, Burlington.