A member of the Township Council in Mine Hill Township from 1981 to 1983, DeCroce later served on the Roxbury Township Planning Board from 1984 to 1987. In 1991, she was hired by the township to serve as its Deputy Township Manager from 1991 through 2002 and as its Township Clerk from 1988 to 2010.
In 2010, she was appointed Deputy Commissioner in the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs, a position she held until 2012.[3] During this time, she authored the Best Practices for Municipalities, which became a statewide model for identifying efficiencies in local government for reducing property taxes.
DeCroce has served on the Morris County Joint Insurance Fund and was the North Jersey Health Insurance Fund Commissioner.
She married Alex DeCroce, who had been in the Assembly for two terms, in 1994.[4] She currently resides in Parsippany-Troy Hills and has two sons and four grandchildren.[5]
New Jersey Assembly
Alex DeCroce, who had served in the Assembly since 1993, died suddenly on January 9, 2012, at the age of 75, shortly after the 214th Legislature had ended.[6]
On January 25, 2012, BettyLou DeCroce was selected by the Morris County Republican Committee to replace him in the Assembly, defeating former Kinnelon Councilman Larry Casha by a nearly 2-1 margin.[4][7] She won a November 2012 special election for the remainder of the term, defeating Democratic candidate Joseph Raich.[8]
On June 8, 2021, DeCroce lost her reelection bid to former Pompton Lakes Councilman Christian Barranco.[9]
^ abWright, Peggy (January 25, 2012). "BettyLou DeCroce wins 26th District seat held by late husband". Daily Record. Retrieved September 15, 2015. BettyLou DeCroce bested Larry Casha, 120-67, at a special convention Wednesday night, where GOP county committee delegates chose her to fill the state Assembly seat left vacant by her husband's death. ... BettyLou (nee Bisson), who married Alex DeCroce in 1994, had served as a Mine Hill councilwoman when she was in her mid-20s.[permanent dead link]
^Staff. "N.J. Assemblyman Alex DeCroce collapses, dies in Statehouse after long legislative session", The Star-Ledger, January 10, 2012. Accessed October 10, 2012. "Longtime Assemblyman Alex DeCroce, the leading Republican of the state’s lower house who represented Morris County for 23 years, collapsed and died in a bathroom inside the Statehouse late Monday night, just moments after the 214th Legislature held its final voting session."
^Goldberg, Dan. "BettyLou DeCroce to assume N.J. Assembly seat, succeed husband in 2 weeks", The Star-Ledger, January 26, 2012. Accessed October 10, 2012. "It will be about two weeks before BettyLou DeCroce officially takes her seat in the state Assembly. She was selected Wednesday night by the Republican County Committee to fill the seat left vacant by the death on Jan. 9 of her husband, Alex DeCroce, the Assembly minority leader."
