Days before the town was scheduled to bring in an independent auditor to take over an investigation of his office, suspended Secaucus Tax Collector Alan Bartolozzi was charged Tuesday with one count of theft in the third degree, according to Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio.
The charge relates to his elected position as treasurer for a local employees’ union, although authorities are still looking into his activities as the town’s full-time Tax Collector. He is currently suspended from the latter job without pay.
On Tuesday Bartolozzi was specifically charged with “depriving the Secaucus Public Employees’ Association of $4,150 between Sept. 22, 2006 and Jan. 22, 2007.”
The charge stems from allegations that Bartolozzi took as much as $20,000 from the union, the prosecutor said.
If convicted of the theft count, he faces a maximum penalty of five years behind bars.
Bartolozzi appeared with his attorney John Lynch in court on Tuesday before Superior Court Judge Kevin Callahan and entered a plea of not guilty. He was released on $2,500 bail.
“This charge pertains only to the Secaucus Public Employees’ Association and is not connected to the investigation of the Tax Collector office, which is still ongoing,” DeFazio said.
Lynch said on Bartolozzi’s behalf, “We must now wait to see if the Prosecutor’s Office decides to present the case to a grand jury for indictment. At this stage of the case, I’m not entitled to any of the [corroborating evidence] they say they have against my client, so we’re in a wait-and-see mode. The next move is the prosecutor’s, not ours.”
Irregularities led to investigations
Bartolozzi and the Tax Collector’s Office have been under investigation for the past several months after accounting irregularities were discovered and the office was unable to balance its books.
If convicted, Bartolozzi faces a maximum penalty of five years behind bars.
________
As required by state law, the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs and the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office were notified of the accounting problems and DeFazio’s office began its own inquiry into the matter.
Because Bartolozzi had also served as secretary treasurer of the Secaucus Public Employees’ Association, union president Charles Schumacher also took a close look at the union’s books and apparently found a shortfall there as well.
Bartolozzi, who has been Secaucus’ Tax Collector since 1985, had been in charge of the union’s finances for 17 years. The union represents 45 municipal workers, including department heads, clerical workers, housing authority employees, clerical supervisors, and supervisors in the Department of Public Works.
Despite published reports to the contrary, DeFazio said that no evidence has been presented to a grand jury.
New auditor to start
Although few details have been revealed publicly, the accounting problems in the Tax Collector’s office appear to date back to at least 2005, according to Barkala.
The scope and complexity of the investigation has kept Barkala and her staff from focusing on preparations for the 2009 municipal budget, which the Town Council had planned to start working on several weeks ago. Secaucus runs on a calendar year, so the 2009 budget would cover spending from last January through this coming December.
At a special council session on July 7, the governing body unanimously voted to bring in an independent auditor to lead the investigation. At that time, Barkala was also given two weeks to complete 2009 budget worksheets before returning to the investigation.
According to Town Administrator David Drumeler, preliminary budget worksheets were completed last week and will be available to members of the Town Council in time for their July 28 meeting.
The new independent auditor, Francis “Bud” Jones of Nisivoccia & Company, should also be on board by that time. Beginning this week, Barkala will help Jones get up to speed with the Tax Collector investigation.
But what role Barkala and Suplee, Clooney will play as the investigation moves forward in the coming weeks has yet to be resolved, Drumeler said. Three members of the Town Council have indicated that their role should be limited, since – as the people responsible for supervising and checking Bartolozzi’s work – they have a personal interest in protecting their jobs.
E-mail E. Assata Wright at awright@hudsonreporter.com.