Budget
"The county website should include comprehensive budget information."
On the top menu, hover your mouse over County Government, Board of County Commissioners, then choose the County Budget
Meetings
"Typically, open meeting laws include provisions mandating that governments give advance notice to the public of when and where its meetings will be held"
Elected Officials
"Websites sponsored by the government should include information about who serves on the governing board"
- Sussex County Elected Officials
- Sussex County Board of County Commissioners - Names, Contact information, terms of office and party affiliation
- Sussex County Clerk
- Sussex County Surrogate
- Sussex County Sheriff
- Other Elected Representatives including Federal, State and Municipal Officials are listed in the
Official County Directory
Administrative Officials
"An administrative official is a person that is either hired or appointed to work for a particular unit of government."
Permits, zoning
Issuance of building permits and zoning information are handled by the Municipalities. To visit your Municipality's web site, hover your mouse over Municipalities on the top menu.
Audits
"Audit results should be posted online"
On the top menu, hover your mouse over County Government/Board of County Commissioners, then choose the County Audit.
Contracts
"Government websites should inform residents about:"
- Rules governing contracts.
- Bids and contracts for purchases over $10,000.
- Information about vendor campaign contributions.
Rules governing contracts: The Local Public Contracts Law and the Board of County Commissioners empowers only the Purchasing Agent to make purchases for the County.
County of Sussex Purchasing Manual.
New Jersey Local Agency Procurement Laws.
Bids and contracts for purchases over $10,000: Here.
Information about vendor campaign contributions: The New Jersey Pay-to-Play web site contains a searchable database of campaign contributors.
The Sussex County Office of Purchasing lists bid opportunities and requests for proposals.
Lobbying
"Government websites should include or disclose:
- Database of registered lobbyists
- Agency lobbying contracts.
- All grants given to non-profit organizations with reason for the grant and a contact in the organization responsible for oversight.
- Any dues paid to taxpayer-funded lobbying associations, and details about what legislation those associations lobbied for or against.
Database of Registered Lobbyists: The State of New Jersey refers to lobbyists as Governmental Affairs Agents.
The complete list of registered Governmental Affairs Agents.
New Jersey annual report summaries on the activities of Governmental Affairs Agents.
Agency lobbying contracts: N/A
All grants given to non-profit organizations: A list of grants given to non-profit organizations. The Administrator of the Department of Human Services is responsible for oversight. Call 973-579-0559.
Any dues paid to taxpayer-funded lobbying associations: The only taxpayer funded lobbying group the County of Sussex belongs to is the New Jersey Association of Counties (NJAC). The amount of the NJAC bill for 2010 is $6,084.00. Details about the activities of the NJAC.
Public Records
Public Records available online.
Request Information under the Open Public Records Act (OPRA).
In 2021 the Clerk of the Board's Office satisfied the following public records requests:
- Total OPRA requests received for 2021 (core County Government) – 161.
- Total OPRA requests meeting compliance – 158 of the total 161.
- Average time required for compliance – four (4) days.
- As of the writing of this response, the County is not being sued for failure to provide public documents.
- As of the writing of this response, the County is not being ordered by a Judge to provide documents.
Other OPRA Custodians are located in these offices:
- Sussex County Board of Elections
- Sussex County Sheriff's Office
- Sussex County Board of Taxation
- Sussex County Prosecutor
Local Taxes
"Government websites should include information about all taxes levied by the government whose website it is, and information on how to appeal property tax assessments, if the unit of government is partially funded by property taxes."
Payroll
Payroll information*
*The County of Sussex has no input to, or control over, the veracity or timeliness of the information presented