MARLBORO – April 9 was Mayor Jonathan Hornik’s 100th day in office and to mark that day, Hornik and the Township Council held a town hall meeting at the Greenbriar adult community.
The mayor had called for such meetings upon his inauguration.
Stanley Rosen, the chairman of Greenbriar’s Political Awareness Committee, was the moderator for the event.
“This type of thing is good for our community,” Rosen said, adding that when residents and their elected officials can come together it is a good sign of transparency in the government.
Rosen said about 250 people attended the event.
Council President Jeff Cantor said, “In the almost four years that I’ve been on the council, this is the closest and most cohesive that the council has been in working with the administration, the mayor’s department, getting things done for Marlboro.”
Hornik said Marlboro’s local officials must get creative in the face of threatened cuts in municipal state aid in order to maintain the high level of services residents have come to expect without substantially increasing taxes.
“Your local government is working in a bipartisan matter for the first time in decades, and we are working with the common goal to make Marlboro better,” the mayor said.
It was noted that the township is still pursuing the purchase of the former Marlboro State Psychiatric Hospital property on Route 520. The hospital was closed by the state in 1998 and the future of the 400-acre parcel remains uncertain.
Council Vice President Steve Rosenthal said it is the administration’s goal not to permit houses to be built on the hospital property. He said officials would instead prefer to see some type of nonhousing ratable use that land.
Those present were excited to hear about the proposed reopening of the Morganville Senior Center, off Texas Road, and it appeared to be agreed on by most people in attendance that providing a teen center for Marlboro’s youth is a good idea.
Hornik said officials are weighing their options for a teen center, including an offer put forth by developer Edward Kay, who is a township resident. Kay has offered the use of space in a business park he and his partners developed.
The Marlboro Police Department accounts for 25 percent of the municipal budget, Hornik said, adding that the state has picked up the tab on an audit of the police department to make sure it is running efficiently. The mayor also spoke about shared services agreements being entered into with Manalapan, and his desire to host a shared services summit with other surrounding municipalities.
Audience members asked questions about Marlboro’s state mandated obligation to provide affordable housing in the community and about the municipal tax bill.S
tabilizing the municipal portion of the overall property tax bill is one of the administration’s top goals, Hornik said. A hiring freeze has been put in place and department heads have been asked to cut discretionary spending, he told the audience.
The mayor said that only 6.8 percent of Marlboro’s total tax revenue base comes from commercial ratables, with the majority of the tax base being made up of residential taxes. The key to longterm tax stability, he said, is to bring in nonhousing ratables which would lighten the load on residential taxpayers. Hornik pointed out that five of six surrounding towns have a higher commercial ratable base and have lower average residential property taxes than Marlboro.
Residents asked about a possible increase in taxes as a result of an upcoming revaluation of all properties in the municipality. A representative of the appraisal company and the tax assessor were on hand to answer questions about the revaluation.
Tax assessor Walter Kosul told the audience he was present for Marlboro’s previous revaluation in 1992 and said for the most part taxes remained stable. He said adult communities tend to fare well during revaluations.
Hornik said that a revaluation does not by definition mean that everyone’s taxes will rise.
When it seemed as if a significant number of residents had concerns and questions about the revaluation process, Cantor and Hornik agreed that a special meeting would be held to discuss the matter.
The mayor said an affordable housing strategy is being developed with the help of the Smart Growth program offered by the state. Hornik said the program gets the whole town involved, determining where the best locations are to continue to comply with the affordable housing obligation, taking into consideration traffic concerns and open space issues.
Hornik said Marlboro will be exploring options other than building more homes, such as looking into rehabilitating homes and noting that nursing homes can count toward the affordable housing obligation.
“I will never mislead you – there will be new houses built in this town as a result of [the affordable housing obligation]. We won’t have a choice. Our job is to minimize that number and make it acceptable in locations that won’t devastate our town and have a negative or adverse effect on our community,” Hornik said.
The Stattel farm on Route 520 near Route 79 was a hot topic during the 2007 election season, with Hornik saying he was against development at that location.
W
hen asked about the farm during
the meeting at Greenbriar, Hornik said he still stands in opposition to the land being developed and said he has written to the Stattel family and to the state Council on Affordable Housing about his desire to preserve the farm as open space.
“Let us begin the next hundred days with as much energy and focus as the last 100 days,” Hornik said in conclusion.

