Northampton County Needs to Appoint a Controller, Yet Again, to Fill Remainder of Zrinski’s Term

Jan. 4, 2026

Northampton County Council has to appoint a new controller, in what is becoming almost a routine duty.

Since 2018, two controllers have died in office and two have resigned.

Applications are due by Jan. 16. See this link and details below for information. The County Controller is an independently elected fiscal watchdog overseeing audits, contracts and spending. The job pays $85,000 annually, with a four-year term.

Tara Zrinski was elected controller in 2023 but is leaving to move up to Northampton County Executive. That leaves two years on her current term.

She will be sworn in Monday to succeed County Executive Lamont G. McLure Jr., who did not seek a third term. McClure is running in the Democratic primary for U.S. Congress. The winner will take on Ryan MacKenzie, a first-term Republican in the 7th District.

When Zrinski took office in 2024, she was the fifth person to hold the job since the start of 2018. Number Six is on the way.

Zrinski succeeded Scott Parsons, a former County Council member who was appointed to fill the vacancy left by the June 30, 2023 death of Richard “Bucky” Szulborski.

Szulborski in turn had been appointed in 2021 after the death of Antoine “Tony” Bassil, who was elected in 2019.

Szulborski also stepped up in 2018 to fill the controller’s job when Stephen Barron resigned to become director of fiscal affairs in McClure’s cabinet.

So starting in 2018, there have been five controllers, all Democrats, covering six partial terms.

The sequence: Barron – Szulborski – Bassil – Szulborski – Parsons – Zrinski – and No. 6 is on the way.

The next County Council will have an 8-1 Democrat majority.

From the county website:

Northampton County Controller Vacancy

Notice is hereby given that the Northampton County Council is accepting applications from individuals interested in filling the Northampton County Controller position. Any interested individual must comply with Northampton County Home Rule Charter Section 103 “General Qualifications” which provides, “During his term of office each elected official shall be a citizen of the United States and shall reside continuously in the County. Each elected official shall have resided in the County continuously during the year preceding the commencement of his term of office.” 

Individuals interested in the Controller vacancy should send a written resume to the Office of Northampton County Council, Northampton County Government Center, 669 Washington Street, Easton, PA 18042, or by email to ashafnisky@norcopa.org. 

Applications must be received in the Northampton County Council office by January 16, 2026 at 4:00 p.m. Notice is further given that the applicants will be interviewed at the Northampton County Council meeting to be held January 22, 2026, commencing at 6:30 p.m., prevailing local time, in the Northampton County Council meeting room, room No. 3116, third floor, Northampton County Government Center. Individuals with questions may contact the office of the Northampton County Council by telephone at (610)829-6596.