LETTER: Do We Really Need the Added Cost of County Government?

May 21, 2026

Dear Norfolk County Residents,

It is that time of the year when local budgets in the 28 communities that make up Norfolk County get voted on. If your town is like my town these are tough budget times. Communities are trying to wrestle with funding budget priorities.

The 28 towns and city that make up Norfolk County are paying almost 8 million dollars to the Norfolk County Commissioners and Norfolk County Government in a yearly tax assessment sent from Norfolk County. It is time for the communities of Norfolk County to examine whether this 8 million dollar county tax is better kept in the local towns to fund their budget priorities.

There has been wasteful costs to the taxpayers as these elected and appointed Norfolk County officials try to justify and defend their illegal and unlawful actions in a number of Massachusetts courts. In Fiscal Year 2024 over $200,000.00 was spent by the Norfolk County Commissioners on legal fees. Just this Fiscal Year 2026 over $159,913.00 has been spent by the Norfolk County Commissioners in legal fees through March 31, 2026 with 3 months to go in the fiscal year. County Director John J. Cronin and the Norfolk County Commissioners have voted and received an additional $50,000.00 for legal monies with their vote on December 10, 2025 and another separate $50,000.00 for legal monies on top of this with their vote on May 6, 2026. Is it time the 28 communities investigate wasteful spending and see what the Norfolk County Commissioners are doing and spending the taxpayers’ money on? After all each of the 28 towns and city of Norfolk County are potentially liable for the debts and liabilities of this Norfolk County Government.

The Norfolk County Commissioners accepted in 2023 10 million dollars for selling the Quincy District Court House. Could your community use any of this 10 (ten) million dollars? After all it was the communities of Norfolk County that built this court house and maintained all these years this court house. Yet the Norfolk County Government did not even ask or offer the local communities to share in this 10 million dollars.

There have been negative findings by independent auditors who have examined Norfolk County’s financial books. On December 15, 2021 Lynch Marini & Associates Inc. Certified Public Accountants wrote “…the County funded mandate was deficient in the range of $197,000.00 to $282,000.00 for fiscal year 2020”. Would your town allow such deficiencies?

The independent auditor Lynch Marini & Associates Inc. Certified Public Accountants reported another audit finding on August 21, 2023 “For the current fiscal year this leaves a potential range of misstatements within the County’s financial statements between $645,000.00 and $2.3 million between respective fund balances (General Fund and Deeds Excise Fund).” Would your town tolerate any such misstatements within your town’s financial statements?

Norfolk County did not like what the certified public accountants Lynch Marini found and reported. However, even the new auditor brought in by the Norfolk County Commissioners, Powers and Sullivan LLC CPAs and Advisors on May 3, 2024 reported a material weakness when they wrote “These large fluctuations indicate that this is a systemic problem in how the accounts are being used and not a one-time error”. Would your town tolerate systemic problems in town financial accounts as well as a material weakness audit finding?

It is well documented the various poor decisions the Norfolk County Commissioners and their County Director John J. Cronin have made when it comes to interfering with the Registry of Deeds and its operations. There has been unsound management by Norfolk County General Government that in this day and age should be striving to be efficient, effective and relevant.

The Norfolk County Commissioners and the County Director John J. Cronin have lost in a number of different courts in litigation involving the Registry of Deeds including a loss in the highest state court in Massachusetts, the Supreme Judicial Court. Norfolk County Government has violated a number of Massachusetts state laws by unlawfully interfering with Registry operations and misappropriating taxpayer public monies designated by state law for Registry use. When elected and appointed officials that run Norfolk County General Government make poor decisions, abuse their power and break the law that should be a signal to the people who live in the communities of Norfolk County to take a closer look at this layer of government.

Sincerely yours,

Bill O’Donnell

Norfolk County Register of Deeds