Morris Freeholders Appeal Sheriff, Union Rulings on Labor Costs

Written By Jason Koestenblatt

The Morris County Board of Chosen Freeholders is joining other New Jersey governing bodies in an appeal to the lower court for issuing two separate rulings that could heavily impact taxpayers.

The county announced this week it is asking the New Jersey Supreme Court to hear an appeal of rulings that made the Sheriff the sole employer of his office’s employees for the purpose of negotiating contracts, and another arbitration ruling granted to PBA Local 298, also known as the union for Morris County Correctional Facility officers.

That ruling granted raises to PBA 298 in 2011 when every other union in the county agreed to a wage freeze to help cut costs.

“The freeholders weighed the potential impact these two rulings could have on our finances and on county taxpayers, and decided that appeals are warranted in each case,” said Morris County Freeholder Director Tom Mastrangelo in a statement.

Just last month Morris County Sheriff Edward Rochford filed suit against the county for the hiring of new officers in his department to patrol courtrooms. The suit was dropped by the county was ordered to oblige the request.

“The general public does not realize the unbelievably high costs of public employee pensions and benefits,” said Morris County Freeholder John Krickus, a budget committee member, in a statement. “For example, the average private sector 401k match is 4 percent to 6 percent, costing $4,200, versus Morris County paying 23 percent of salary toward pensions, or $19,000 for uniformed officers.”

“This lower court decision seriously undermines the county’s right to negotiate and could have a considerable negative impact on the county’s budget process,” said Stephen Trimboli, an attorney handling the case for the freeholders. “It would also place sheriffs in an untenable position of being forced to negotiate subjects over which they have no control.”