Judge Dismisses County Surrogate's Suit Against Donovan

A judge dismissed Tuesday one of the Kathleen Donovan.

Superior Court Judge Peter E. Doyne threw out County Surrogate Michael Dressler’s charge that Donovan overstepped her bounds by blocking promotions for three of his employees earlier this year.

Dressler, a Democrat, had argued that Donovan was interfering with his constitutional responsibility to run the surrogate’s office, which reviews matters of wills and estates, and appoints guardians of minors. He contended that by promoting from within his office rather than hiring from outside, he had saved about $114,000.

Donovan said she blocked the promotions because they amounted to 14-percent raises, and accused Dressler of backdating the promotions to be able to pay his appointees more money. Moreover, the promotions would put the surrogate over his budget, Donovan said.

Dressler said he went just $6,000 over budget and argued that the lawsuit would end up costing more than that.

Doyne, whose decision to dismiss the case came down to how he viewed the law’s delineation of powers in county government, ruled that Dressler’s actions overstepped his power as surrogate. 

Namely, Doyne ruled that Dressler’s argument that he could exceed his budget when appointing or promoting employees was not valid because Donovan, as holder of the “pre-eminent” position in the county, had the power to set the budget and the salaries of employees.

“Understanding the very reason for a budget is to establish the permitted amount of spending, to compel [Donovan] to exceed the amount she proposes would be inconsistent with the Executive’s broad responsibility for the general administration of the County government,” Doyne wrote in his dismissal.

Dressler told NorthJersey.com Tuesday that the ruling was not completely negative in that it clarified whom he can legally appoint and promote. While  Dressler said he would abide by Doyne’s ruling not to exceed his budget, he added that if the freeholders were to restore the $6,000 Donovan cut from his budget he would go ahead with his intended promotions.

County Administrator Ed Trawinski said he disagreed with Dressler’s interpretation that, if under budget, he could make appointments without the county executive’s consent.

Trawinski told NorthJersey.com that the case was not about a $6,000 budget differential, but an attempt by the surrogate to give his employees an "unconscionable" 14 percent raise that Donovan would never approve, regardless of whether it was within budget constraints.

Even with Dressler’s suit dismissed, Donovan still finds herself the target of pending litigation from the county clerk, county freeholders and the Northwest Bergen County Utilities Authority, as well as the former director of the Bergen County Improvement Authority and her former director of Community Development.

“This is what happens when you change the way government operates,” Donovan told Patch in May. “I’m not suing anybody. They’re suing me and I believe very strongly they are incorrect.’”