DiVincenzo Gives 2025 State Of County Speech: ‘Unprecedented Times’

ESSEX COUNTY, NJ — “These are unprecedented times.” That was the sentiment shared by Joseph DiVincenzo Jr. as he presented his annual “State of Essex County” address on Thursday evening.

DiVincenzo gave his speech at the Essex County Hospital Center in Cedar Grove, touching on topics that included finances, development, infrastructure and social services. Watch the full speech below or view it online here.

This latter subject – social services – got a callout during DiVincenzo’s address.

According to DiVincenzo, the county is often viewed as a “safety net,” and offers programs to help people who are facing economic and food insecurity, experiencing mental illness, caring for special needs babies or need job training.

Prior to his speech, a short video highlighted four ways in which Essex County is helping to “transform the lives” of local residents:

“First, the staff at the psychiatric hospital rallied to help a patient who was pregnant when she was admitted give birth. It was the first time a baby was born in the facility. A young man who was involved in a fight entered a pioneering alternative to incarceration program called the Restorative and Transformative Justice Hub Pilot Program – the first of its kind in New Jersey. Instead of going to jail, the young man is learning how his actions affect others, getting homework help and staying out of trouble. He is one of 50 juveniles helped by the program. The REACH to Recovery program helps those suffering from substance abuse overcome obstacles to break their habit. A client who is going through the program shared that he has reconciled with his family and sees his children regularly because of the help he has received through REACH. Finally, a newly created mental health step-down unit at the Essex County Correctional Facility is getting inmates with mental health needs get the help and services they need. One inmate who was suffering from depression has been released and shares his successes outside of the facility with the doctors who helped him.”

The county executive also mentioned state and national-level issues that have had a local impact.

“These are unprecedented times,” he said. “Who would have thought that wildfires would endanger our homes here in Essex? That wars far beyond our borders would have such a profound impact on our daily lives?”

• See Related: Huge Wildfire Rips Through Essex County, ‘Challenges For Firefighters’
• See Related: Israel-Palestine Protesters Storm Sen. Cory Booker’s Office In NJ
• See Related: From NJ To Ukraine: Nonprofit Says War-Torn Nation Is Still Hurting

Here are some other topics covered in DiVincenzo’s speech on Thursday, as recapped in a statement from the county executive’s office:

BUDGET

DiVincenzo said that keeping the county’s financial house in order has been a priority.

According to a statement from the county executive’s office:

“Even with new pressures caused by rising costs of health care, pension, utilities and inflation, DiVincenzo has kept the budget under the 2 percent state cap, introduced it before the January 15 deadline and keep the average county tax increase among the lowest in the state. This financial stability has been instrumental in DiVincenzo and his administration overcome an inherited $64 million deficit, earn the highest bond rating in county history, complete over 500 projects in the parks and roadways, assist over 2.5 million clients with benefits, construct 20 new buildings and administer almost one million COVID tests and vaccines.”

Property taxes in Essex County were the highest of any county in New Jersey last year, new data from the state shows.

Essex County administrators have proposed a $874.1 million county budget for 2025, which would come with a tax increase for local homeowners. Read More: Tax Hike In Proposed Essex County Budget (See The Latest Numbers)

COMPLETED COMMUNITY PROJECTS

A wide range of community projects crossed the finish line last year, the county executive pointed out. They included efforts to modernize basketball and tennis courts, update softball and baseball fields, introduce pickleball courts and create the first-ever soccer field in Essex County Belleville Park.

DiVincenzo said that the opening of new community centers in the parks has had a positive impact on the community, with the buildings being rented a total of 450 times in the past year.

According to DiVincenzo’s office, the latest community centers to open are the D. Bilal Beasley Community Center in Irvington Park and the Sheriff Armando and Mary Fontoura Community Center in Independence Park.

DiVincenzo named the football field in Vailsburg Park in Newark after NFL Head Coach Raheem Morris, a native of Irvington, after Morris was named as the first Black Head Coach of the Atlanta Falcons.

He also dedicated a bust of Parks Director Dan Salvante in the Cherry Blossom Welcome Center in Branch Brook Park to commemorate Salvante becoming the longest serving parks director in Essex history.”

• See Related: $10M Cherry Blossom Center At Branch Brook Park Opens In Essex County
• See Related: New $11M Community Center In Irvington Park Unveiled

Essex County public works employees were also busy modernizing bridges and culverts, traffic signals and intersections and aggressively slogging through swamps to eliminate breeding grounds for mosquitos last year, DiVincenzo said.

DiVincenzo also said that Essex County “remembered its past” by dedicating the Division of Family Assistance and Benefits and a bronze bust in honor of the late Lt. Governor Sheila Oliver, and dedicating plaques to memorialize the late Peter Shapiro (the first person elected as county executive), late U.S. congressmen Donald Payne Jr. and Bill Pascrell, and NBA legend and Newark native Alvin Attles.

• See Related: ‘Legends Way’ In Essex County Honors Attles, Pascrell, Payne, Shapiro

UPCOMING COMMUNITY PROJECTS

DiVincenzo also mentioned some upcoming projects that are on the list in Essex County.

According to the county executive’s office:

“In 2025, the new Wynona Lipman Family Courts Building is scheduled to open, the elevators in the Veterans Courthouse will begin to be replaced, the upgraded Australian Outback Exhibit and the Barry Ostrowky Animal Welfare Center in Turtle Back Zoo will open. What is special about the Animal Welfare Center is that Turtle Back will have its own CT scanner to help diagnose animals and the exam rooms will be viewable by the public.”

“This will showcase a lesser-known dimension of what happens at Turtle Back and hopefully raise awareness about the high quality of care we provide our animals and the expanding role that zoos have in conservation, animal study and wildlife preservation,” DiVincenzo said.

Other projects coming online in 2025 include the redesigning of the former Sea Lion exhibit to accommodate lemurs and tortoises, a new community center in Monte Irvin Orange Park in Orange, new soccer fields in Independence Park in Newark, updated picnic areas in South Mountain Reservation, a modernized playground in Watsessing Park in East Orange, a “comprehensive facelift” to Weequahic Golf Course in Newark and the dedication of a 2.2-mile walking path after Weequahic Park Association founder Wilbur McNeil.

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