While walking along Main St., Hackensack, NJ on Tuesday May 23, 2017 just before 2:30 PM I came across the local sheriff serving process on a bank. The officer, in full uniform including weapons and radios, stopped to text on his way into the bank he was serving. I was struck that he found it necessary to park illegally on the sidewalk in front of the bank. This was not an emergency. They did not have their lights or even their flashers turned on. In fact there was an open, legal parking space, less than 20 feet away. Why illegally park on the sidewalk?
Even more disturbing was that there was another sheriff’s officer sitting in the illegally parked cars’ passenger seat. She also appeared to be in full uniform, including radios and weapons. I will never understand why it takes two sheriff’s officers with weapons to serve process on a bank, or any other business or individual for that matter.
This all got me thinking – what could the sheriff possibly charge for not one but two officers, their uniforms, weapons, radios, salaries, healthcare, training, pensions and all else required to employ them plus the fully loaded police vehicle with lights, radios, high performance engine, lap top computers, etc.? How much does a Bergen County Sheriff Officer even get paid to serve process?
It appears a Bergen County Sheriff Officer earns on average $80,000.00 just in salary – based on an article in The Record/NorthJersey.com on March 8, 2016 seen here… http://archive.northjersey.com/news/public-safety/law-enforcement-pay-at-issue-1.1524080?page=all
“That means a recruit in the academy will make $31,840 in 2017, while an officer with 13 years of experience will make $134,045 at the top of that post’s pay scale. An inspector will make $189,216, that year and a captain will be paid $173,593.”
Now for some math – I called the Bergen Sheriff Office on May 24, 2017 and was informed that the cost to serve the above mentioned process would be $24.80.
Using the officer’s average salary of $80,000.00…
$80,000 Average Salary (not including benefits, uniforms, weapons and other equipment)
÷ 250 Working Days (Average annual working days is 260 – I gave the officer only 2 weeks of vacation and no sick time)
= $320.00 Per Day, per officer or $640 for the team (excluding the cost of benefits, equipment and vehicles)
Based on my 35 years of serving process in NJ it would be incredibly difficult, if not impossible to serve 30 papers in a day, but for the purpose of being conservative that is the number I will use. Assuming the two officers complete service on 30 papers in one day they will have generated… 30 papers x $24.80 per paper = $744.00 of income for the department.
We know just their salary, without any benefits or the cost of equipment, cost the department $640.00 per day. That leaves, at best $104.00 left over before you pay for their benefits, the car, the maintenance, the computers, etc. Now add to that the cost of office staff, their computers, printers, copiers, software, their benefits, the electricity, heat, air conditioning, postage, furniture cost of office space and on and on and on.
The actual cost for serving that process in nowhere near $24.80 – the actual cost has to exceed $150.00.
Why are Bergen County residents forced to subsidize the cost of serving process for lawsuits? Why are the litigants not covering the minimal cost of serving their process? Why are lawyers, who in many cases are billing $200.00, $300.00 $400.00 and much more an hour not covering the cost of the process they are having the sheriff serve? Why is the sheriff not billing for at least the actual cost of serving process?
If you use your local ambulance you get a bill. If you add an electric outlet in your home the town wants a permit fee. When you drive on a NJ road you pay tolls in addition to the obscene gas tax. When you file papers with the courts you pay exorbitant fees. When you park your car at the courthouse you are forced to pay. Why, in the every tightening county budgets are the sheriffs still giving away the cost of serving process?
Note Vehicle on Sidewalk and Open Parking Spot Directly in Front
Officer Sitting in Car
