Finance director for Hoboken

January 09, 2009 Jersey Journal

HOBOKEN - In the continuing effort to pull the city out of its financial quagmire, state monitor Judy Tripodi yesterday announced she is bringing in a new financial planner.

Nicola Trasente is a former administrator and CFO of Highland Park and a municipal auditor for New Jersey's Division of Local Government Services' Distressed Cities Team.

Trasente will serve as a full-time municipal employee. His hiring eliminates the need for the financial consultant services the firm Donohue, Gironda and Doria has been providing for the past three years. The company's most recent contract ended at the beginning of this year.

According to Tripodi, Trasente's hiring will help the city save money.

Trasente will make $125,000 yearly, significantly less than the $325,000 a year the city paid Donohue, Gironda and Doria, Tripodi said.

"The finance director will have a vested interest as a city employee for greater accountability and will be able to implement financial policy as a direct result of being an employee," said Tripodi.

Trasente, who starts immediately, was a senior auditor for Ernst & Young LLP from 1997 until 2000, performing audits on various local governments, and he worked with the Division of Local Government Services from 1999 to 2001.