Gaetano: Tackle taxes by cutting spending

BY SUE MORGAN Staff Writer

BY SUE MORGAN
Staff Writer

Anthony "Bubba" Gaetano Anthony “Bubba” Gaetano Republican mayoral candidate Anthony “Bubba” Gaetano says he has seen one too many “For Sale” signs prominently displayed on the lawns of homes in Eatontown.

Those signs represent a growing number of borough residents moving out of town due to escalating property taxes, said Gaetano, who is challenging eight-year incumbent Mayor Gerald J. Tarantolo in the Nov. 7 election.

“I’ve seen more ‘for sale’ signs around town than I ever have before,” said Gaetano, a lifelong borough resident.

“People come up to me and say ‘I can’t afford to live here any more,’ ” the Eatontown Memorial School social studies teacher added.

One way to tackle the property tax issue is to revisit the results of the borough-wide revaluation carried out last year, especially in light of the record number of tax appeals requested by residents, Gaetano suggested.

“I’ve heard a lot of horror stories about the revaluation,” he said.

If the revaluation is revisited, Gaetano said officials need to keep close tabs on the firm conducting the work as it is carried out.

“The [revaluation] company did a job that was not well done,” he said.

If elected, Gaetano would evaluate the borough’s departments to find ways to save money.

“Every budget has fat,” Gaetano said. “We need to revisit everyone’s department, find out what [employees] really need, and take the luxuries out.”

Though he is employed by the Eatontown Board of Education, Gaetano said he would apply the same principle to the school district.

“We need to be more proactive with the school board,” he said. “This town has had a long history of ‘they do their thing, we do ours.’”

The mayor and council need to be more aggressive in reviewing defeated school budgets for line items that can be cut , he said.

By voting to trim $125,000 from both the Eatontown school board budget and the Monmouth Regional High School budget, both rejected by voters in April, the council did not really look for additional savings, Gaetano said.

Dealing with property taxes has to start at the local level and will not come by waiting for the state or the federal government to act, he added.

“Do something in your own backyard,” Gaetano said. “At least investigate property tax relief.”

Should he become mayor, Gaetano would become Eatontown’s sole representative on the state-sanctioned Fort Monmouth Economic Revitalization Planning Authority (FMERPA).

In that capacity, Gaetano says he would pursue “what’s best for Eatontown” as the Pentagon’s September 2011 closure of the U.S. Army base approaches.

“The mayor should make sure that Eatontown gets the best scenario with [FMERPA], and listen to every offer and every possibility that comes in, and deal with whatever ideas people come in with,” Gaetano said.

As a member of the fort revitalization panel, Gaetano says he would seek new uses that would provide the borough with new ratables and that would benefit Eatontown residents.

The tentative plan for revitalizing the borough’s downtown is not “concrete” and will displace small business owners now operating in the redevelopment zone extending from Throckmorton to Broad streets, Gaetano said.

Building new offices in the zone would be unwise because so much empty office space already exists in town, he pointed out.

The revitalization plan should be revisited, so that the affected business owners and residents can be more involved in planning for the downtown’s future, Gaetano said.

While pleased with the borough’s acquisition of both the Stella and Capilupi farms off Grant Avenue for park land, Gaetano would like to see that the borough comes up with ” a good concept” for those open spaces.

In addition, as mayor, Gaetano says he would reach out to more residents for greater involvement in the borough’s recreation, child care and senior citizens’ programs.

A lieutenant with the Eatontown Fire Department, Gaetano is currently president of that organization. He is an ex-captain and active member of the Eatontown First Aid Squad.

Gaetano also coaches baseball at Memorial School and formerly coached football at Monmouth Regional High School. In addition, he is a member of the Eatontown Elks.