Parkway chair sees value
of merging authorities
By carolyn o’connell
Staff Writer
The one thing that Jerold Zaro knows for sure is that come July, he will no longer be chairman of the New Jersey Highway Authority.
The toll road consolidation plan recently approved by Gov. James E. McGreevey will merge the New Jersey Highway Authority and the New Jersey Turnpike Authority under a single executive director and management structure, and will eliminate the board for the New Jersey Highway Authority, which oversees the Garden State Parkway and PNC Bank Arts Center, Holmdel.
The merger process will abolish the eight-person Parkway Board of Directors to be merged with the already existing six-member board of the Turnpike Authority under one single executive director for the system.
Zaro, managing partner of Ansell Zaro Grimm and Aaron, Ocean Township, was appointed to the highway authority board by then Gov. James Florio in 1991. He has served as chairman since 2001.
The board, according to Zaro, was responsible for a $200 million budget, which included paying for the services of New Jersey State Police Troop E, which patrols the parkway, and the PNC Bank Arts Center.
The merger is expected to eliminate duplicate spending in the administration of the roads and the other entities under their control, saving $130 million over the next 14 years.
The savings are earmarked for capital improvements for the parkway and the turnpike, according to Joe Orlando, spokesman for the turnpike authority.
"I believe it’s in the best interests of New Jersey as a whole," said Zaro. "I congratulate the governor on a vision and his will to make it happen, instead of the lip service from previous administrations."
According to Zaro, the projects most needed on the roads will now be able to be completed.
"It will be under one agency, the money will be in one pot, and the money will be spent on the most critical projects identified," he said.
The transition to merge the two entities, noted Zaro, will take some time, likely well into the fall.
According to the governor’s office, once the refinancing is complete and the turnpike assumes the parkway debt, the two agencies will become one.
Refinancing is expected to be complete by July, according to Micah Rasmussen, spokesman for the governor.
According to Orlando, two new members will be added to the turnpike board. They could be two new members altogether or existing members from the parkway board.
The two new members will be selected by Assembly leader Albio Sires (D-Hudson), and Senate co-presidents John O. Bennett III (R-Monmouth) and Richard J. Codey (D-Essex).
"The Senate co-presidents," said Orlando, "will have to choose between the two candidates they have chosen themselves."
Zaro said he has not been approached about filling a position on the combined board, but if asked, he said, he would not be able to turn down such a request.
The announcement of the two new board members is expected to be made sometime in July.