The Bergen County Executive is county executive of Bergen County, New Jersey, United States who, as the chief officer of the county's executive branch, oversees the administration of county government. The office was inaugurated in 1986 at the same time the Board of Chosen Freeholders, which plays a legislative role, was reconfigured. The New Jersey Superior Court had subsumed and replaced county courts in 1983. The executive offices are located in the county seat, Hackensack.
The executive is directly elected at-large to a four-year term on a partisan basis.Bergen County Board of Chosen Freeholders , Bergen County, New Jersey. Accessed March 20, 2018. Since the first county executive took office, five individuals have served in the position. In 2014, incumbent James J. "Jim" Tedesco III was elected to his first term, being re-elected in 2018. As of Election Day 2017 there were 593,454 registered voters in the county, which in 2016 had estimated an estimated population of 939,151.State & County QuickFacts – Bergen County, New Jersey, United States Census Bureau. Accessed April 9, 2017.State & County QuickFacts – Bergen County, New Jersey, United States Census Bureau. Accessed March 10, 2018.
History In 1972, the State of New Jersey passed the Optional County Charter Law, which provides for four different manners in which a county could be governed: by an executive, an administrator, a board president or a county supervisor.
A referendum to change the Bergen County form of government was held in 1974 and was rejected by a margin of 132,168 to 123,106, making Bergen one of four counties to reject proposals modifying the structure of county government, while four other counties passed changes. The measure was supported by the League of Women Voters and other groups as a method of improving the management of the county, while the loss of "home rule" in the county's 70 municipalities was one of the issues driving opposition to the referendum.Phalon, Richard. "Democrats Take Over Bergen's Board", The New York Times, November 7, 1974. Accessed March 16, 2018. "The Democrats promised greater efficiency in government and were generally in favor of a proposition voted down yesterday by 132,168 to 123,106, a referendum on a charter revision that would have put the day-to-day operations of the county in the hands of an elected executive and turned the board of Freeholders into a legislative and policy-making body. Similar propositions were rejected in Passaic, Camden and Middlesex Counties, and approved in Atlantic, Hudson, Union and Mercer."
In 1985, a second referendum was held. The proposal to create an executive branch was approved by a high margin: of the 490,437 registered voters, 116,031 voted for and 70,331 against. The change also reduced the number of members of the legislative branch, Board of County Commissioners, from nine to seven.Parisi, Albert J. "Bergen to Vote on Executive", The New York Times, October 27, 1985. Accessed March 20, 2018. "In addition to voting for a Governor and Assemblymen on Election Day, Bergen County residents will decide, in a binding referendum, whether they want to change to a new type of county government and administration. The county now has a nine-member Board of Chosen Freeholders. Voters will be asked whether they want a county executive type of government and a reduction in the Freeholder membership to seven." The judicial branch, namely the county court, had been subsumed and replaced by the New Jersey Superior Court Law Division in 1983.
The executive has power to appoint a County Administrator as well as department heads (with approval of the Board). Responsibilities include preparation/submission of operating and capital budgets, introduction of legislation, the hiring and dismissal of personnel, and approval or veto Freeholder ordinances. The Board of Commissioners board has the power to investigate administrative actions of the executive, approve ordinances and resolutions, initiate service contracts with municipalities, and adopt an administrative code.
Bergen is one of five counties in New Jersey with a county executive, the others being Atlantic, Essex, Hudson and Mercer.Rinde, Meir. "Explainer: What's a Freeholder? NJ's Unusual County Government System", NJ Spotlight, October 27, 2015. Accessed October 26, 2017. "Five counties -- Atlantic, Bergen, Essex, Hudson, and Mercer -- opted for popularly elected county executives in addition to freeholder boards."
County executives
William D. McDowell: 1987–1991 William D. McDowell served one term. McDowell had earlier served on board of the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission.
McDowell, who at the time was County Sheriff, faced Democrat Matthew Feldman, a five-term member of the New Jersey Senate and former Senate President in the race. McDowell was endorsed by Doris Mahalick, Feldman's rival for the Democratic nomination. McDowell beat Feldman by a margin of nearly 20,000, capturing 112,619 votes (55% of ballots cast) to 92,649 (45%) for Feldman.
Pat Schuber: 1991–2003 William "Pat" Schuber, a Republican, served 12 years as the County Executive. Schuber had previously served both as a councilman and mayor of Bogota, New Jersey and was elected to five successive terms in the New Jersey General AssemblyWilliam "Pat" Schuber, Esq., BA, JD , Fairleigh Dickinson University. Accessed March 10, 2018. In 2011, he was appointed to a six-year term on the board of commissioners of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ).
Dennis McNerney: 2003–2011 Dennis McNerney, who served from 2003 to 2011, was the first Democrat to serve as County Executive.James, George. "Government; It's County vs. Mayor", The New York Times, April 4, 2004. Accessed February 16, 2011. "Mr. McNerney took office last year and is the first Democrat to hold the post. Efforts to build a shelter eluded his Republican predecessor, William P. Schuber, who suggested building one in 1998."
McNerney defeated Republican Henry McNamara in the 2002 general election and took office in January 2003 after being elected to the Bergen County Board of Chosen Freeholders in 1998 and 2001Jones, Richard Lezin. "The 2002 Elections: New Jersey; Supporter of Newark Arena Is Elected Essex Executive", The New York Times, November 6, 2002. Accessed February 18, 2022. "In Bergen County, Dennis McNerney, a two-term Democratic freeholder, defeated Henry P. McNamara, a veteran Republican state senator, in the race for county executive." McNerney was reelected to his second term of office as county executive in 2006, defeating former Freeholder Todd Caliguire, after outspending the Republican by a 6-1 margin.Fallon, Scott; and Carmiel, Oshrat. "Victories give Democrats all Bergen freeholder seats", The Record, November 8, 2006. Accessed February 18, 2022, via Newspapers.com. "Both freeholder slates mirrored the platforms of their county executive running mates, Democratic incumbent Dennis McNerney and Republican Todd Caliguire. McNerney beat Caliguire on Tuesday for a second four-year term.... The funding war played out decidedly in favor of McNerney. McNerney's campaign committee spent $637,325 as of late October. His campaign was also bolstered by Victory 2006, the campaign committee for the Democratic freeholder candidates, which spent more than $100,000 on TV ads promoting the county executive, in addition to other expenditures. By contrast, Caliguire's campaign committee and the Bergen County Republican Organization spent a combined $107,000 as of late October." He lost reelection in 2010 to County Clerk Kathleen Donovan, in a race in which the Republicans captured all three open seats on the Board of Chosen Freeholders to regain control on the board.Gartland, Michael. "Donovan leads Republican sweep in Bergen", The Record, November 2, 2010. Accessed February 16, 2011.
In his February 2008 State of the County address, McNerney called for Bergen County municipalities with populations less than 10,000 to merge, saying "The surest way to significantly lower homeowners' property taxes is to merge small towns and reduce administrative overhead." Half of Bergen County's municipalities (35/70) had fewer than 10,000 residents each then.
Kathleen Donovan: 2011–2015 Kathleen A. Donovan is a Republican who served one term as county executive.
Donovan was a part-time public defender of her hometown, Lyndhurst, from 1983 to 1988. From 1986 to 1988, she represented the 36th Legislative District in the New Jersey General Assembly.Fitzgerald's Legislative Manual: State of New Jersey (2007), Skinder-Strauss Associates, Newark, New Jersey, p. 325. . She was first elected County Clerk in 1988 and was reelected in 1993, 1998, 2003, and 2008. As County Clerk, she also functioned as Recorder of Deeds for Bergen County.
In 1994, Donovan was appointed by Gov. Christine Todd Whitman to the Board of Commissioners of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey; she later became the chairwoman. Donovan stepped down as Port Authority Chairwoman in December 1995, in order to unsuccessfully run for Congress in the 1996 election, but retained her seat on the Port Authority's Board of Commissioners. Donovan remained a Port Authority Commissioner until 2002, when she was replaced by Gov. James McGreevey, as her term expired.
Donovan unsuccessfully sought support to run for Bergen County executive in the 2002 Republican primary, and lost her campaign for the 2006 Republican nomination for county executive. Donovan ran for county executive in 2010, and was swept into office with her three Freeholder running mates, in an election in which perceived corruption by the Democratic incumbents, rising spending, and tax rates were the major issues. Donovan won with 53% of the vote (117,100), while McNerney received 47% (104,367).
James Tedesco: 2015–present James J. Tedesco III was sworn as county executive just hours into 2015, later being publicly sworn in on January 4, 2015, at Bergen Community College.Ensslin, John. "Tedesco to be sworn in as Bergen County Executive Jan. 4", The Record, December 10, 2014. Accessed April 8, 2016. "James Tedesco will be sworn in as the new County Executive at 2 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 4, in a formal ceremony at Bergen Community College." Before being elected as county executive, Tedesco served as a councilman in Paramus from 2000 through 2002, and served two terms as mayor there, from 2003 through 2010.Past Mayors, Borough of Paramus. Accessed August 4, 2023.
Tedesco was elected to the Bergen County Board of Chosen Freeholders on November 5, 2013 and took office in January 2014. Before beginning his term as Freeholder, he testified on the citizens' behalf at a Port Authority Board meeting on the Fort Lee lane closure scandal in November 2013.