Hudson County's fire marshal and the clerk of its Board of Elections could be getting significant raises after the county's Board of Commissioners voted 8-1 to introduce an ordinance authorizing the pay bumps. If adopted, Fire Marshal Frank Pizzuta's salary would jump from $84,618 to $111,272, retroactive to July 1, while Board of Elections Clerk Michael Harper would see his pay rise from $117,964 to $141,118.
The commissioners introduced the measure at their Thursday meeting after discussing it during a caucus session two days earlier, according to Hudson County View. The ordinance remains subject to final adoption, and the county has not yet voted to make the raises permanent. The official caucus agenda for that Tuesday session, posted by the Board of County Commissioners, was dated October 20, 2026.
Commissioner Bill O'Dea cast the lone vote against the ordinance, and he didn't hold back about the numbers. He pegged the fire marshal's proposed bump at roughly $28,000, or about a third of Pizzuta's current pay, and he wasn't shy about contrasting that with what taxpayers are already absorbing elsewhere. He said his own town and Kearny had both raised taxes by more than 14 percent, and he separately noted that Hudson County itself had raised taxes on Jersey City by 14.42 percent.
O'Dea Presses for Comparisons, Questions the Paperwork
“He's getting 33-and-a-third percent increase. We just raised taxes on my town and Kearny over 14 percent,” O'Dea said, framing the fire marshal raise as roughly 30 percent above Pizzuta's existing salary. He also pushed back on what he described as thin documentation behind the proposal, asking why county staff hadn't supplied more backup showing the new salary was in line with fire marshal pay in other New Jersey counties. “Why is there not that much backup?” he asked, according to the outlet's account of the caucus discussion.
O'Dea went further, warning that approving a large raise for one department head could invite similar requests from other directors across county government. He and fellow Commissioner Al Cifelli for District 9 both floated splitting the ordinance into two separate measures, one for each position, so commissioners could vote on Pizzuta's and Harper's raises independently. That split never happened, and the single ordinance covering both salary increases moved forward intact.
Administration Defends the Fire Marshal's Workload
County Administrator Abe Antun laid out the case for Pizzuta's raise by pointing to the scope of his job. Pizzuta, who has held the fire marshal post for about two years, conducts fire inspections at county buildings and parks, issues permits for food trucks, and sometimes works seven days a week. Antun said Pizzuta also inspects fire extinguishers, sprinkler systems and alarm systems throughout county buildings and works with vendors to fix any deficiencies found.
“He does inspections in all of our buildings, including the fire extinguishers, the sprinkler systems, the alarm systems,” Antun said, describing duties that also include regularly reporting to the state. County Counsel Alberico de Pierro added that the fire marshal's office had been under the law department until this month, and said Pizzuta's work has helped ensure county buildings stay up to date. The broader administration defended the raise by citing Pizzuta's increased duties and the growing demands of county events.
Clerk's Raise Tied to Pay Parity Request
The push to raise Harper's salary traces back to a resolution from the Board of Elections itself. Antun said the board wanted its clerk compensated at the same level as the superintendent, a goal that would account for the jump to $141,118. Harper recently received a cost-of-living raise, according to Antun, separate from the increase now under consideration.
Commissioner Al Cifelli backed Harper's proposed raise without reservation, while taking a more cautious view of Pizzuta's. He said the fire marshal increase needed more scrutiny before commissioners should sign off on it. Board Chair Anthony Romano, who represents District 5, praised Harper's work ethic and job performance as justification for the higher pay.
A Shift Away From Annual Cost-of-Living Raises
The debate over these two salaries comes against the backdrop of a policy change the commissioners made last year. The board moved away from giving annual cost-of-living increases to employees not covered by union contracts, shifting instead to a three-year adjustment process, per the same Hudson County View account. That shift helps explain why Pizzuta's and Harper's raises, when they do come up, land as larger lump increases rather than smaller yearly bumps.
Countywide pay data adds some context to the scale of these numbers. The highest salary among Hudson County employees in 2025 was $230,530, according to govsalaries.com, while the average employee salary rose 6.6 percent and the median rose 6.8 percent from 2024 to 2025 per the same source.
For now, the ordinance sits introduced but not finally adopted, leaving both Pizzuta's retroactive increase and Harper's parity-driven raise contingent on a future vote. Whether commissioners revisit splitting the measure, or whether O'Dea's warnings about setting a precedent for other department heads gain traction, remains to be seen as the county moves toward a final decision.
