By Amy Batista, Special Writer
MONROE — Local citizens concerned the recent substantial tax increase formed a group last month called the Monroe Citizens for Responsible Government.
According to its mission statement, “Our elected officials need to stop spending as if they had an unlimited ATM machine.”
The non-partisan group of citizens formed in August and is “dedicated to restoring fiscal responsibility back into government.”
”The grouped was started by Joe Castelluccio and concerned citizens of Monroe who were in sticker shock over the 11 percent property tax increase that we received about six weeks ago,” said Secretary Chairperson Nelson Chen of Monroe.
”The issue we are dealing with is the overburdening real estate taxes in Monroe,” resident Robert Roche said. “People can no longer bear this burden and many want to sell and leave this town.
According to Mr. Chen, Mr. Castelluccio, with the assistance of several neighbors, sent around flyers and spoke to any residents that would listen to him about the negative impact that the recent property tax increase will have on our families and future property values of homes.
”The intent wasn’t to start a group,” said Elected Candidate Chairperson and Spokesman Joe Castelluccio. “It was just a couple of neighbors trying to see what was happening here in town.”
According to Mr. Roche, the group has been continually growing since it started with a meeting at the Forsgate Country Club on Aug. 15 that was attended by about 60 people, and estimates the group is now up to around 4,000 people receiving emails via their email chain and “the list grows by the day.”
Mr. Roche said the second meeting of the group drew about 500 people.
”The reaction from the public has been unbelievable,” Mr. Roche said. “We have been besieged with contacts from residents promising their support and thanking us for our efforts. The support has come from all demographics in the town.”
Mr. Castelluccio said he never expected this inquiry to turn into a group, let alone the size it has grown too.
”That was the second meeting and we were all kind of stunned that packed into this room and all basically on the same page,” Mr. Castelluccio said. “What I found particularly interesting was that it was a very good cross-section of the town.”
The group has been active at Township Council and Board of Education meetings, making sure they express concerns and question regarding spending by public officials.
”We were also very taken back by it when we probed into more that there were some real outrageous things happening that we thought needed to be addressed,” Mr. Castelluccio. “Essentially, we thought that the spending needs to be addressed in the town much like in the country where the politicians have been spending money, not caring whether these dollars can be saved somewhere else.”
Mr. Castelluccio clarifies the mission of the group that it is pro-education, but the group insists that those dollars be spent in the most economical and efficient manner possible by the town and BOE.
”We are not against spending in schools,” Mr. Castelluccio said. “We are talking about waste-less spending.”
People who are interested in learning or finding out how you can get involved, please contact can email Jeanette Roche at [email protected].

