BY KATHY BARATTA
Staff Writer
HOWELL — As an independent candidate for mayor, James P. Garvey believes he can make a difference because he is not bound by party directives or past mistakes.
Garvey is running for a four-year term as Howell’s mayor against Republican Joseph M. DiBella and Democrat Steve Farkas in the Nov. 2 general election.
DiBella is a current member of the Township Council.
Two-term Democratic mayor Timothy J. Konopka is not seeking re-election.
Under Howell’s form of government, the mayor is directly elected by voters, but is a member of the council.
As a federally registered financial adviser, Garvey says he has the expertise to put into place economic practices that he claims would stem the tide of what he called “uncontrolled spending” at town hall by looking carefully at how taxpayer money is spent.
“The spending over the past three years has just been unbelievable,” Garvey said. “The schools are clobbering us with the administrators’ salaries being way above the state average.”
The Howell Board of Education and the Township Council are autonomous entities and operate independently of one other, including setting a budget and raising taxes. The only time the council reviews the school budget is when voters fail to approve it. In such a case, the council may make recommendations to reduce school spending.
Garvey also advocates a different approach to stemming the tide of residential development.
Acknowledging that charging developers so-called impact fees can be successfully challenged in court, Garvey said the same end could be achieved by imposing a tier system for the cost of construction permits.
Under Garvey’s proposal, a construction permit for a home that would be marketed for up to $150,000 would cost a developer $10,000 in permit fees.
A home marketed between $150,000 and $400,000 would come with a $20,000 permit fee, and any homes above the purchase price of $400,000 would carry a permit fee of $30,000.
Garvey said the revenue generated could be used to buy federal bonds that could be cashed in to offset the future financing of schools and other needed services and infrastructure costs that development brings.
According to Garvey, along with the permit fee imposition, the state also allows municipalities to collect money from builders to cover the costs of infrastructure improvements, such as roads and sewers.
One of Garvey’s primary criticisms of the council was the governing body’s recent decision to bond for $16 million to purchase 300 acres near the Manasquan Reservoir and to earmark that land for a comprehensive municipal recreational complex.
“Why build more parks when you can’t maintain the ones you have now?” asked Garvey, who says officials should turn their attention to upgrading the
many parks throughout town and not look to acquire more land to be used for parks that would require upkeep.
Also, Garvey said he would work to stop the property revaluation planned for Howell next year. The revaluation is mandated by Monmouth County.
Garvey said a revaluation is unfair to Howell residents with older homes and is being done only to offset the high taxes being paid by recent home buyers.
“They are reassessing so the new homes can be leveled off while the burden gets put on the older homes, the longtime residents,” Garvey said. “It’s not fair to the people that have been here and who are on a fixed income.”