Vol. 15 - No. 25
In This Week’s Edition
THE TOMS RIVER
TIMES
FOR BREAKING NEWS
JERSEYSHOREONLINE.COM Your FREE Weekly Hometown Newspaper For Toms River, Island Heights, Ortley Beach & Lavallette | October 19, 2019
Columbus Day Events Celebrate Love Of Italy
Mayoral Candidates Talk Taxes
Community News!
By Chris Lundy TOMS RIVER – One of the biggest issues in any town is its taxes. Coupled with the struggles of the Toms River School District losing a significant amount of state aid, financial troubles are on the forefront of voters’ minds as they head to the polls on Nov. 5. Republican Councilman Maurice “Mo” Hill is running against Democrat Jonathan Petro. For this newspaper’s election coverage, both candidates were asked the same three questions. Their answers will be spaced out over three articles in order to give them room to breathe. This is the first article. They were asked for their tax plan for Toms River. Next week, the candidates will talk about development issues in town. Their answers are being presented alphabetically by last name. They have only been lightly edited for clarity and to provide definitions for terms that lay people might not know. More details about Toms River’s municipal taxes are at the end of this article.
Don’t miss what’s happening in your town.
Pages 10-14.
Dr. Izzy’s Sound News
5 Tips To Keep Your Technology Going Strong
Page 18.
Dear Pharmacist Page 19.
Inside The Law Page 21.
Classifieds Page 23.
Business Directory Page 24-25.
Fun Page Page 26.
Horoscope Page 31.
Wolfgang Puck Page 31.
–Photos by Bob Vosseller (Above) One of several floats in this year’s parade, rides down the Boulevard in Seaside Heights on Oct. 13 for the 28th Annual Ocean County Columbus Day Parade. (Right) Brick residents Dr. Maureen J. Persi and her husband Melindo A.Persi greet friends and spectators along the parade route during in their role of joint Grand Marshals. By Bob Vosseller SEASIDE HEIGHTS – For nearly three decades the borough has hosted a tribute to those of Italian heritage. The t h ree - d ay weekend event includes a street
fair filled with food vendors, community organization booths and st rolling entertainment. The main event howeve r, is t he Ocea n County Columbus Day
discrimination will be removed. This bill does not stand alone, said Berkeley Councilwoman Judy Noonan, who organized the resistance against it. There’s a history of state bills that have tried to micromanage senior communities. In the past, bills have tried to create another level of bureaucracy to oversee communities - this bureaucracy would be funded by a fee paid by residents.
Maurice Hill On Taxes “We have not had an increase in the municipal tax rate in 3 years!” Hill said. “Toms River’s property taxes are $2,000 lower than the average New Jersey property taxes despite losing 30 percent of the Town’s ratable base due to Superstorm Sandy.” The ratable base is the sum of all property values in a town. So, when Sandy wiped out scores of shore homes, there were fewer properties to tax. “We will continue to look for opportunities for shared services with the state, county, Board of Education and surrounding towns,” Hill said. “For example, Monmouth County has a pilot program for a county-wide tax assessment program whereby they re-evaluate towns every 5 years. This would save the individual towns from having to contract for re-evaluations every 5-10 years. “We continue to look for improved efficiencies. When we transitioned to Robo cans for sanitation and single stream recycling we only needed one driver per Robo truck as compared with the three sanitation workers we had on our older rear loader trucks. This saved us in personnel costs
(Senior - See Page 9)
(Election - See Page 5)
Parade which takes place on the last day of the festival along the Boulevard. The event ran from Oct. 11-13. As per tradition, the autumn weekend event kicked off Friday with
some DJ entertainment followed by this year’s folkloric group, Gruppo Folklorico “Città’ di Castrovillari. The group performed several times during the (Parade - See Page 4)
Senate Bill Impacting 55+ Communities Changed
By Chris Lundy BERKELEY – After a groundswell of resistance, a bill that would codify a lot of how senior communities are run was changed by the senator who introduced it. Local seniors worried that the language would open up 55+ communities to people underage. Those promoting the bill said it’s a misconception. Regardless of who is right, the senator who introduced the bill said that references age
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