Saudino Offers Over $250K in Cuts to Proposed Sheriff's Budget

Bergen County Sheriff Michael Saudino has submitted a budget more than $250,000 lower than the figure recommended by his political rival, Bergen County Executive Kathleen Donovan.

On Friday morning, the Republican sheriff offered up to the county freeholders a $59,895,356 budget for 2013, $281,000 less than the 2012 adopted budget.

Donovan in January had in her proposed $505 million county budget.

Saudino says the cuts he's identified will not impact public safety, claiming general operational efficiencies, reduced overtime and a consolidation of jail posts led to the slimmer budget.

“The County Executive offered a recommended budget; at that point we were well on our way through our own analysis, and were pleased to see that we could go further with cuts,” he said in a written statement Friday. “We went as far as we could go without jeopardizing public safety, which is something I have made clear that I will never do.”

Saudino said he worked with the county freeholders to find an additional $31,000 in cuts. The freeholders, controlled 5-4 by Democrats, have final budget approval.

The department's budget is just one of a series of issues in an ongoing feud between Saudino and Donovan, who ran together in 2010 on the Republican ticket. Donovan has even accused Saudino of using his department to perform surveillance on her.

The pair have spent more than a year trading barbs in New Jersey courts over a .

Donovan says she's legally entitled to a seat at the bargaining table, arguing the "reckless" contract includes $10.5 million in raises. Saudino disputes that figure and says precedent allows him to negotiate the contract exclusively.

The bad blood runs deeper than just a contract dispute.

Saudino has made no secret of his wish to take over the Bergen County Police Department, arguing its current role is highly redundant and wasteful to taxpayers.

“The model of a countywide police agency is archaic and doesn’t work as demonstrated by the lack of a county police department in the other counties of New Jersey,” Saudino remarked in 2012.

Donovan, by contrast, has expressed concerns with the department being under the auspices of an elected official, disputes purported cost savings, and claims public safety could be jeopardized if the department is dissolved. 

The freeholder board – which too has repeatedly sparred with Donovan – could re-initiate the failed effort to merge the county police into the sheriff's department.

On Tuesday, April 9, a League of Women Voters forum held in Paramus will explore the merits of consolidation.