How does county government work in Essex County and New Jersey?

New Jersey’s 21 county governments play a critical role in daily life in the state. They oversee courts, roads, schools, police, and other public services that enable municipal governments to function and state government to implement programs and distribute resources.

The Jersey Bee produced this explainer about county government in Essex County and New Jersey to help residents understand the structure and responsibilities of their county elected officials and public agencies.

What are the responsibilities of New Jersey county governments?

The Essex County government consists of eight departments, 21 county commissioner committees, and 11 advisory boards and commissions. Some areas that Essex County oversees include:

• County financial planning and spending.
• County health services, including facilities like the Essex County Hospital Center, programs for substance abuse, and a health department that oversees solid waste enforcement and air and noise pollution.
• County human services like providing care assistance to veterans, seniors, and abandoned youth, and offering welfare benefits to families.
• County counsel, which provides legal services to the county administration, its departments, divisions and offices, register of deeds and mortgages, clerk, and sheriff.
• County parks, recreation, and cultural facilities, including public playgrounds and arts and history programs.
• County training for employment, housing development, and coordinating welfare-to-work, school-to-work, and literacy-to-work programs.
• County jail safety and development of the Essex County Police Academy.
• County roads, environmental services, buildings, security, and county development planning through the Essex County Department of Public Works.

What is a county board of commissioners and county executive and what do they do?

Essex County and all other New Jersey counties are governed by an elected County Board of Commissioners. 

Essex, Atlantic, Bergen, Hudson, and Mercer counties also have an elected County Executive.

The remaining 16 New Jersey counties elect commissioners that exercise both executive and legislative functions. This typically includes appointing a county administrator or manager to oversee the daily administration of county government. 

The Essex County Executive oversees the administration of county government in Essex County. Elected commissioners retain a legislative role, including approving budgets and contracts and passing ordinances and resolutions.

Essex County has a nine-person board of commissioners, where each member serves three-year terms. Five seats are elected from equally populated districts while four commissioners are elected at-large. Commissioners can be re-elected with no term limit. 

The Essex County Board of Commissioners’s electoral districts include:

• District 1: Newark: North Ward, East Ward, and Parts of Central, South and West Wards 
• District 2: Newark: Parts of South and Central Wards; Irvington, Maplewood 
• District 3: Newark: Part of West Ward; East Orange, Orange, South Orange
• District 4: Caldwell, Cedar Grove, Essex Fells, Fairfield, Livingston, Millburn, North Caldwell, Roseland, Verona, West Caldwell and West Orange
• District 5: Belleville, Bloomfield, Glen Ridge, Montclair, Nutley

New Jersey state law allows for boards to range from three to nine seats, though all require an odd number for total membership.

General elections for county government are held during the November general election. County governments with partisan elections hold primaries in June.

What are the responsibilities of a county board of commissioners? 

New Jersey’s county commissioners hold legislative and investigative powers that allow them to:

• Pass local laws and resolutions.
• Oversee local agencies.
• Conduct relevant research and investigations.
• Create and approve budgets.

The board president has the power to:

• Preside over all board meetings and supervise board staff.
• Appoint all members to committees of the board.
• Authenticate all ordinances and resolutions passed by the board.
• Appoint two board members to serve as voting members on county advisory committees. (Each advisory committee has only two members.)

County commissioners give advice to the county executive, administrator, and all members of board commissions. It appoints its own legal counsel and may hire professional and clerical staff and consultants to help perform legal responsibilities.  

County boards of commissioners appoint their own clerks separate from the elected county clerk. The board clerk is an office manager and operates with a budget and staff separate from the county administration. The clerk prepares the agenda for conference and board meetings, attends and keeps minutes of the meetings, and receives documents and correspondence for the board.

Essex County’s commissioners hold public meetings approximately every two weeks during the year with exceptions for the summer and early winter months. The meetings occur on Wednesdays at 5 p.m. inside the Essex County Board of County Commissioners Board Room Chambers, room 506 at Newark’s Hall of Records. A list of upcoming meeting dates and respective locations can be found on the board’s website. 

County boards of commissioners elect a board president and vice president by majority vote at an annual organizational meeting. These roles are held for one-year terms and commissioners may be re-elected. Board presidents and vice presidents act as liaisons to the county administration and meet frequently with the county executive, county manager, and other administrative staff.

The board president also acts as chairperson during formal meetings, setting the agenda and approving ordinances and resolutions. The board vice president performs these when the president is absent.

What other county elected offices are there in Essex County and New Jersey? 

In Essex County, voters also elect their surrogate court judge, county clerk, and register of deeds and mortgages for five-year terms. The county sheriff serves a three-year term.

The Essex County Surrogate Judge oversees the validity of wills, estates, adoption, and adult guardianship. Elected surrogates act as the County Probate Court Judge, determining the distribution of assets if the deceased owner does not leave a will.

Essex County’s clerk is responsible for processing passport applications and notary public oaths, registering small business trade names, issuing Essex County resident identification cards, and certifying nominating petitions and results for government elections that Essex County residents vote in. This includes federal, state, county, and municipal elections. 

The Essex County Register of Deeds and Mortgages preserves and records property transactions throughout the county, including mortgages, liens, foreclosures, and mortgage cancellations.

The Essex County Sheriff oversees the county’s law enforcement and county jail. The county sheriff is primarily responsible for providing courthouse security and transporting incarcerated people to and from jail to attend court hearings and trials. The county sheriff and county sheriff’s officers patrol the county parks, roads, and buildings. The sheriff’s office also conducts sales of foreclosed properties.

The sheriff’s office works with the federal Drug Enforcement Agency through Essex County’s narcotics unit to enforce drug laws. They also oversee emergency response to local and regional emergencies or disasters, including the presence of first responders like police officers, paramedics, emergency medical technicians, firefighters, or the county’s K-9 and bomb detection unit.

In Essex, Monmouth, Camden, Burlington, and Gloucester Counties, the sheriff’s office maintains a lists of outstanding warrants. In other New Jersey counties, the county clerk of the court maintains it.

Learn more

Learn more about Essex County government by exploring how it spends its $866 million budget from 2023. 

Learn more about what issues the Essex County Board of Commissioners focuses on by reviewing the committees and advisory boards convened by commissioners in 2022:

Committees

• Health Care/Health Benefits ECUA Committee
• ECIA Committee
• Public Safety Committee
• Subcommittee for ICE
• Board of School Estimate – Vocational Schools
• Affirmative Action Committee
• Work First New Jersey Review Committee
• Committee to Review the Essex County Code
• Parks, Recreation & Cultural Affairs Committee
• Deer Population Control Committee
• Budget Review Committee
• Transportation Committee
• Finance Committee
• Housing & Community Development Committee
• Subcommittee Bank Review Program
• Trap, Neuter & Release Committee (TNR)
• Subcommittee to Review Funding for Nonprofits
• Elections Committee

Advisory Board and Commission Appointments

• Essex County Planning Board
• Essex County Advisory Board for the Disabled
• Essex County Transportation Advisory Board
• Open Space Trust Fund Advisory Board
• Essex County Environmental Commission
• Essex County Improvement Authority – Parking Project Committee
• Mental Health Advisory Board
• Essex County Advisory Board for the Arts
• Essex County College – Police Academy Advisory Board
• Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered & Questioning Advisory Board
• Veterans Advisory Board