Sheriff drops employee bonus lawsuit against Morris County

Conceding that his financial calculations were wrong, Morris County Sheriff Edward V. Rochford on Thursday dropped a lawsuit he filed against the county freeholders over their opposition to his plan to give about 275 of his employees bonuses of $2,500 each.

Attorneys for Rochford and the county were slated to appear Thursday morning before Somerset County Superior Court Judge Yolanda Ciccone but county Administrator John Bonanni said he was alerted through a call around 9 a.m. from Rochford's lawyer, Joseph Bell, that the sheriff was withdrawing his lawsuit.

Neither Rochford nor Bell had returned several messages requesting comment by Thursday afternoon. But Morris County Counsel Daniel O'Mullan said the sheriff informed him Thursday that an expert he hired to calculate whether he could award bonuses out of surplus funds did not accurately do the math.

Rochford's expert had opined that the office's bureau of corrections and bureau of law enforcement would have a combined surplus of $1.5 million at the end of this year. Rochford in October had directed county Treasurer Joseph A. Kovalcik Jr. to disburse nearly $700,000 in bonuses out of surplus funds to sworn officer and civilian employees in the two bureaus.

The county balked at the demand, contending that Rochford's financial estimates were way off. Bonanni also noted that Rochford needed freeholder board approval for the bonuses because he is not the sole employer of many of his workers. The sheriff is sole employer of officers in the bureau of law enforcement but the county is co-employer of corrections officers at the county jail.

Kovalcik determined that the sheriff's expert did not include two additional pay periods for workers in his calculations. Instead of having $1.5 million in surplus, the office will have just $639,476 in surplus at the end of the year, according to Kovalcik, who prepared a detailed certification in anticipation of the court hearing.

O'Mullan said the sheriff reviewed his surplus figures again this week, concluded his expert was wrong and withdrew the lawsuit.

"It was Joe's (Kovalcik) certification that brought this to a head," O'Mullan said.

He said the lawsuit could have been avoided if the sheriff a month ago sat down with the treasurer or had his expert do so. Now, he said, taxpayers have to foot the legal fees of special county Counsel Matthew Giacobbe who prepared for the court hearing and Joseph Bell's fees, because the county is obligated under most circumstances to pay the legal bills of the sheriff. Both Giacobbe and Bell are paid $120 per hour.

County Freeholder Kathryn DeFillippo, who is expected to be named freeholder board director for 2015, and Freeholder David Scapicchio said Thursday that the entire board was against the bonus proposal.

"We need to sit down with the sheriff and have a discussion like adults. It seems very adversarial right now and lawsuits cost the taxpayers money," DeFillippo said.

Corrections Officer Leon Pollison, president of Policemen's Benevolent Association 298, the union representing jail officers, declined comment on the lawsuit withdrawal. Thomas Reilly, president of PBA 151, the union representing officers in the Bureau of Law Enforcement, said he didn't yet know all the facts.

"If he doesn't have the money, he doesn't have the money but I don't know the whole story yet. I appreciate the attempt by the sheriff to give bonuses," Reilly said.

Sheriff since 1993, Rochford has been feuding with the freeholders in the past year and has filed and withdrawn two lawsuits against the board since July.

"The current relationship between the sheriff and the freeholders is dysfunctional and that's what we're interested in addressing," said O'Mullan, the county counsel.

In July, Rochford claimed the county was refusing to pay for nine to 11 new recruits to be trained for sheriff's office jobs at the county Public Safety and Training Academy. The county countered that Rochford did not propose the new hirings during sessions to discuss his 2014 budget, but it agreed even before he filed suit to pay for the new recruits. The issue of how to continue paying for the new officers has to be hammered out in 2015 budget talks, county officials said.

The freeholders were opposed to the sheriff's unexpected announcement of merit bonuses because they believed his numbers were off and that he lacked the authority, but they also believed bonuses for select employees would be unfair to the entire county workforce of 1,757 people.

Bonanni had also spent the weekend preparing a certification for the court hearing. Rochford had claimed the bonuses were warranted, in part, because of the Triple Crown accreditation achieved by his office a decade ago. Bonanni wrote that the Sheriff's Office is just one among multiple county departments and agencies that have earned great ratings, commendations and excellence awards.

"To select one segment of the workforce for bonuses would disregard existing labor agreements, harm overall morale and create disparity and division in the workforce," Bonanni wrote the court.

Peggy Wright: 973-267-1142; pwright@njpressmedia.com