An embattled top official in Gov. Phil Murphy’s administration resigned Tuesday after critics for months accused her of turning the state agency she ran into a patronage pit.

Lizette Delgado-Polanco, Murphy’s pick to head the New Jersey Schools Development Authority, submitted a letter of resignation, according to a copy provided the governor’s office.

Delgado-Polanco has been accused of unceremoniously firing state workers when she took control of the agency to help make room for family and friends. She has denied the claims and referred to them as “distractions.”

“It is with a heavy heart that I leave the SDA,” wrote Delgado-Polanco, who took charge of the agency in August. Her resignation from the position, which paid $225,000, is effective Friday.

Her brief tenure has cast a shadow on the multi-billion dollar agency charged with building and maintaining schools in the state’s poorest areas.

Within two months after Delgado-Polanco took the top job, there were 33 new hires at the SDA, including many people with ties to her. They were brought on to fill some of the positions opened by the firings and a host of new jobs titles that were created under the new CEO.

Fourteen of the new hires were brought on at salaries that top six figures and reach as high as $170,000. At least 10 of those top earners either worked with Delgado-Polanco in the past or at companies represented by unions Delgado-Polanco worked for, or had other close ties to her.

One of the new hires is the mother of Delgado-Polanco’s grandson and another, who resigned after a sexual harassment claim from a previous job surfaced, is her second cousin.

The agency, which used money from voter-approved borrowing for school construction, has all but run out of money.

“Right now, there is no money," Delgado-Polanco said in Trenton at a legislative state budget hearing earlier this month. “We are out of money."

The SDA managed about $12 billion at one point, she said. Currently, it has $60 million, leaving nothing left to build new schools or go beyond emergency repairs at existing schools. Layoffs, meanwhile, could hit the agency, already been in the spotlight over its workforce.

The controversy surrounding Delgado-Polanco has cost the agency while its remaining funding dwindles.

According to records obtained by NJ Advance Media, two law firms were retained by the authority to conduct investigations sparked by the turnover.

Carmagnola & Ritardi, LLC was hired in January and DeCotiis, FitzPatrick & Cole was retained by the authority in March, according to the outside counsel agreements. They’re investigating anonymous complaints that personnel files were tampered with and an alleged violation of the New Jersey Conscientious Employee Protection Act, which lets workers refuse to participate in things they believe are illegal.

According to the agreements, partners tapped as outside counsel charged the state $200 an hour, while associates receive $150 and law assistants can earn $125 an hour.

The state Attorney General’s Office facilitated the outside counsel agreements. But the SDA is the client in both cases.

Lawmakers, meanwhile, have suggested the agency could lose its funding as they’ve criticized Delgado-Polanco.

State Senate President Stephen Sweeney, D-Gloucester, said he’s been “shocked” at the hires and has maintained the authority “needs to go away and a new agency needs to be created” or it has to be folded into an existing state entity.

He also predicted Delgado-Polanco would have tough questions to answer when she was slated to appear before another budget committee on April 30.

But she’ll be gone by then.

Sweeney and state Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg planned to sit in on that legislative panel headed by state Sen. Paul Sarlo, D-Bergen, according to a source with knowledge of the lawmakers’ plans. Their presence at the committee would have meant tough questions.

Weinberg, D-Bergen, has also been critical of Delgado-Polanco.

“It’s sad to see somebody like Lizette, who has built a career, involved in these kinds of things,” Weinberg said. “But at the same time I think it’s appropriate that she step down.”

Murphy had ordered a review of all state authorities’ hiring practices in response to the SDA controversy. The SDA’s board has also called for a review.

Neither of the results have been made public.

Until Tuesday, Murphy stuck by his political ally, who supported him during his gubernatorial run and is the current vice chairperson of the state Democratic Committee.

Matt Arco may be reached at marco@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MatthewArco or Facebook.

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