Post by Marc LeVine on Oct 31, 2006 14:52:22 GMT -5
Cutting taxes a priority for both slates for freeholder
Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 10/31/06
BY ANDREA ALEXANDER
FREEHOLD BUREAU
Candidates running for two seats on the Monmouth County Board of Freeholders are pushing competing plans to reduce property taxes as the race enters its final week.
Democratic challengers Greg Gibadlo and Barbara McMorrow are calling for an outside review of the county budget to find ways to cut spending. Republicans Andrew Lucas and Freeholder Anna Little, however, have developed plans for the board to conduct its own budget review.
Gibadlo, who is challenging Little for a one-year unexpired term, wants to appoint a bipartisan commission to "restructure and re-engineer" the county's $457 million budget.
"A little shake-up is good," Gibadlo said. "A little change is good."
Little said she is already working to eliminate unnecessary spending. She serves on a freeholder committee reviewing the budget line by line to look for savings to be made in 2007. The committee asked all county departments to develop proposals that would reflect 5 percent and 10 percent reductions in their budgets.
Republicans are trying to keep control of all five freeholder seats. Democrats have not won a spot on the board since 1986. Ethics, a proposed county open space tax and the reappointment of County Counsel Malcolm V. Carton have also been lightning rod issues in the race.
Calls for budget audit
McMorrow, who is running against Lucas for a full three-year term, wants the freeholders to hire an independent forensic auditor to review the budget.
"When we have an independent eye, we can find where there is waste," McMorrow said. "We can find ways to save that will pay for the cost of having an independent audit."
Lucas argued that the board should conduct its own review and proposed a performance audit of the budget and county government.
"A performance audit is going through and finding waste and finding better ways to be more efficient with the spending that is done," Lucas said. "Otherwise you are paying hundreds of thousands of dollars to have an outside auditor come in, and you might not realize the savings."
Lucas also proposes reducing the number of county employees by 1 percent a year — about 100 employees over three years — mostly by attrition. Lucas and Little also are advocating for an office of shared services to increase efficiencies among local governments.
Once the budget review is complete, Little said, the board needs to find ways to increase revenue in different departments to offset costs.
"By both approaches, I think we will be able to get the tax levy down," Little said.
Democrats also have come out against a nonbinding question on the ballot to establish a countywide property tax of 1.5 cents per $100 of equalized assessed value for open space and farmland preservation.
The county currently budgets a fixed amount of $16 million annually for an Open Space Trust Fund and sets a tax rate based on the amount. Establishing a tax rate instead means the amount collected will increase as property values rise and will help keep pace with the increase in land values.
McMorrow and Gibadlo said they opposed the open-space tax because it would create an "open checkbook" for the board.
Lucas is the only candidate who openly endorsed the ballot question. He said open-space preservation "is the cheapest way to fight overdevelopment and preserve the great quality of life we have here in Monmouth County."
Little stopped short of endorsing a dedicated open-space tax and instead said she supports putting the question before the voters.
"I am waiting to hear from the public," Little said.
Debate over legal costs
The Democrats also have attacked their opponents over the reappointment of Carton as county counsel.
The freeholders reduced the fees paid to county counsels following a five-month study of the legal department but came under fire when they voted 3-2 in August to keep Carton — a longtime fundraiser for the Republican Party — in the job he held for more than 20 years. The study cost the county $53,000.
McMorrow said the freeholders should have appointed a nonpartisan committee to conduct the study and interview candidates, rather than doing it themselves. "If we had a nonpartisan search committee, I believe that more people would have applied" for the counsel's job, she said.
Little, who voted against Carton's reappointment, said she believed that the process to interview county counsel candidates was fair, but that it should have had a different result. Carton competed against four other firms for the job.
"In order to encourage people to apply for positions in the county, we need to demonstrate that we are willing to hire new people to work in these positions," Little said.
Lucas has said he would have voted with Little against Carton's reappointment if he'd been in office. Gibadlo has said Carton should step down and the freeholders should start their search over again.
Gibadlo and McMorrow also are calling for an end to one-party rule as a way to restore trust in government following the arrests in 2005 of several public officials in a wide-ranging and ongoing FBI money-laundering and bribery investigation called Operation Bid Rig.
Little said the county's decision to adopt a fair and open bidding process that calls for advertising so-called "no-bid" contracts will help restore public trust.
"I think we need to speak less about who is affiliated with which party and more about what we want to do for Monmouth County taxpayers," Little said. "It is less about the politics and more about getting the job done."
Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 10/31/06
BY ANDREA ALEXANDER
FREEHOLD BUREAU
Candidates running for two seats on the Monmouth County Board of Freeholders are pushing competing plans to reduce property taxes as the race enters its final week.
Democratic challengers Greg Gibadlo and Barbara McMorrow are calling for an outside review of the county budget to find ways to cut spending. Republicans Andrew Lucas and Freeholder Anna Little, however, have developed plans for the board to conduct its own budget review.
Gibadlo, who is challenging Little for a one-year unexpired term, wants to appoint a bipartisan commission to "restructure and re-engineer" the county's $457 million budget.
"A little shake-up is good," Gibadlo said. "A little change is good."
Little said she is already working to eliminate unnecessary spending. She serves on a freeholder committee reviewing the budget line by line to look for savings to be made in 2007. The committee asked all county departments to develop proposals that would reflect 5 percent and 10 percent reductions in their budgets.
Republicans are trying to keep control of all five freeholder seats. Democrats have not won a spot on the board since 1986. Ethics, a proposed county open space tax and the reappointment of County Counsel Malcolm V. Carton have also been lightning rod issues in the race.
Calls for budget audit
McMorrow, who is running against Lucas for a full three-year term, wants the freeholders to hire an independent forensic auditor to review the budget.
"When we have an independent eye, we can find where there is waste," McMorrow said. "We can find ways to save that will pay for the cost of having an independent audit."
Lucas argued that the board should conduct its own review and proposed a performance audit of the budget and county government.
"A performance audit is going through and finding waste and finding better ways to be more efficient with the spending that is done," Lucas said. "Otherwise you are paying hundreds of thousands of dollars to have an outside auditor come in, and you might not realize the savings."
Lucas also proposes reducing the number of county employees by 1 percent a year — about 100 employees over three years — mostly by attrition. Lucas and Little also are advocating for an office of shared services to increase efficiencies among local governments.
Once the budget review is complete, Little said, the board needs to find ways to increase revenue in different departments to offset costs.
"By both approaches, I think we will be able to get the tax levy down," Little said.
Democrats also have come out against a nonbinding question on the ballot to establish a countywide property tax of 1.5 cents per $100 of equalized assessed value for open space and farmland preservation.
The county currently budgets a fixed amount of $16 million annually for an Open Space Trust Fund and sets a tax rate based on the amount. Establishing a tax rate instead means the amount collected will increase as property values rise and will help keep pace with the increase in land values.
McMorrow and Gibadlo said they opposed the open-space tax because it would create an "open checkbook" for the board.
Lucas is the only candidate who openly endorsed the ballot question. He said open-space preservation "is the cheapest way to fight overdevelopment and preserve the great quality of life we have here in Monmouth County."
Little stopped short of endorsing a dedicated open-space tax and instead said she supports putting the question before the voters.
"I am waiting to hear from the public," Little said.
Debate over legal costs
The Democrats also have attacked their opponents over the reappointment of Carton as county counsel.
The freeholders reduced the fees paid to county counsels following a five-month study of the legal department but came under fire when they voted 3-2 in August to keep Carton — a longtime fundraiser for the Republican Party — in the job he held for more than 20 years. The study cost the county $53,000.
McMorrow said the freeholders should have appointed a nonpartisan committee to conduct the study and interview candidates, rather than doing it themselves. "If we had a nonpartisan search committee, I believe that more people would have applied" for the counsel's job, she said.
Little, who voted against Carton's reappointment, said she believed that the process to interview county counsel candidates was fair, but that it should have had a different result. Carton competed against four other firms for the job.
"In order to encourage people to apply for positions in the county, we need to demonstrate that we are willing to hire new people to work in these positions," Little said.
Lucas has said he would have voted with Little against Carton's reappointment if he'd been in office. Gibadlo has said Carton should step down and the freeholders should start their search over again.
Gibadlo and McMorrow also are calling for an end to one-party rule as a way to restore trust in government following the arrests in 2005 of several public officials in a wide-ranging and ongoing FBI money-laundering and bribery investigation called Operation Bid Rig.
Little said the county's decision to adopt a fair and open bidding process that calls for advertising so-called "no-bid" contracts will help restore public trust.
"I think we need to speak less about who is affiliated with which party and more about what we want to do for Monmouth County taxpayers," Little said. "It is less about the politics and more about getting the job done."