Township Committee Candidates: Howard Effron

Barnegat residents head to the polls in two weeks, and this week, Barnegat Patch is turning the focus on the candidates for township committee. Here, find independent Howard Effron's answers to several questions that you, Patch's readers, said you wanted candidates to address.

Look back at our story on Republican , and keep reading in the coming days for profiles of the other candidates on the Nov. 8 ballot.

• Candidate name: Howard Effron
• Address: 163 Gunning River Road
  
• Party: Independent
• Occupation: Chef at Kubel’s and Kubel’s Too on Long Beach Island
• Previous government experience: None.

Effron’s involvement in Barnegat politics began when he made an unsuccessful bid for a Democratic candidacy in the 2009 primary alongside Marianne Clemente.

“I ran just as an experience for myself, to get in and see what it was all about,” he said. Ultimately, he chose to run on his own as an independent. He’s voted for candidates on both sides of the ticket in the past, he said, but always considered himself an independent.

In this election, Effron is positioning himself as a critical outsider looking to make change on the inside, and make local government more transparent and open to residents.

Below are his answers to the same questions we’re putting to all five candidates.

Obviously, taxes are issue number one for a lot of people. Can you offer up some specific ideas for cutting taxes, including, but not limited to, cuts you would make in municipal spending?

Budget cuts need to start with the big numbers, said Effron.

“We all know the bulk of the budget is salaries, pensions and benefits,” he said, “and there’s a lot of waste.”

Effron said he’d look to make cuts in the construction department, which he said the 2011 budget reveals is not paying for itself with fees as officials promised it would.

“I don’t like to see people laid off, but if there’s not work, we just can’t pay you,” he said. “This town is not here to employ people.”

When it comes to staffing cuts in the public sector, “nobody wants to talk about it,” he said. “It needs to be talked about. Those are huge numbers. We’re not talking about saving $10,000, we’re talking about hundreds of thousands of dollars.”

Did you approve of the 2011 municipal budget? If not, what specifically would you have changed?

“As passed, I do not approve,” Effron said.

The issue of the building department’s losses wasn’t a new problem this year, he said, but the committee still hasn’t dealt with it.

“The building department revenue has dropped in the last three years, and the appropriations have risen for a total loss of over $1,000,000 paid by our taxpayers,” he said. “I’ve heard committee people talk about this for years, but as in government, nothing done. I need to know why.”

Effron also criticized rising salary costs in the township’s Parks and Recreation department, and said he’d scrutinize the township’s open space funding.

He also wants to examine why, as he sees it, some revenues budgeted for in 2010 never materialized in 2011 – including expected revenue from shared services agreements with Ocean Township.

“Over anticipating revenue is as bad as under anticipating appropriations,” he said. “These are the games that are played with budget numbers.”

One issue that readers have been asking everyone to weigh in on is salaries and benefits for elected officials. Do you, or would you, collect and keep a salary and medical benefits? What are your thoughts on those who say elected officials should not do so?

“As far as the health benefits and pension go, I am dead set against it,” Effron said. “The taxpayers should not be saddled with this expense, which, if all committee people accepted, could be between $60,000 and $90,000 for all.”

To qualify for the New Jersey Health Benefit Plan, enrollees must work 35 hours per week, Effron pointed out.

“As a committeeman, I will insist that our committee log hours to prove that they are working the required hours to collect,” he said. “I would actually like to be the member of the committee that proposes to totally abolish all health benefits for these and future Barnegat Township committees, as they did in Lacey Township.”

The salary can stay, Effron said.

“Four thousand dollars or so a year is sufficient for the work done by the committee,” he said.

Accessibility and transparency are also important topics for a lot of people. Do you, or would you, make a point to personally respond to calls and emails from residents? What do you think can be done to increase the level of communication between residents and officials, and make township matters more transparent?

“I will respond to all emails and phone calls that I get personally,” said Effron. “It is common courtesy, and needs to be done to restore the public’s perception of a government that has gotten too big and impersonal.”

He said he’s also strongly in support of televised meetings, and would work to make them a reality if elected.

“This was passed by the present committee in 2009 and nothing has been done to move it forward,” he said. “The structure is there with the two channels, Comcast has agreed, and we get an $80,000 check from Comcast every year that could very well defray the start-up costs of the video taping. Using high school students to help is also an option that will not only save money but will also aide in the educational experience for those students that take interest in media.”

Effron also said the township website needs updating. He could employ his knowledge of the Internet to get it done within budget constraints, he said.

“The more information, the better,” said Effron. “Financials, contracts, open space and sidewalk fund balances and professional bill lists for the public to see. After all, it is your money.”

What else is important to you as a candidate?

Effron said his hopes and aims boil down to bringing transparency and honesty back to politics.

“That’s what I’m looking for,” he said. “I believe that if the public has the information to make a decision on how they feel about a certain subject in town, then that decision will be an educated decision, and it won’t be reliant upon asking the committee and asking the administrator. That’s why you need more transparency. That’s why the public needs more information.”