Toms River Budget Amendment Rejected As Meeting Collapses In Chaos

TOMS RIVER, NJ — The Toms River Township Council rejected a resolution to amend the introduced municipal budget on Wednesday night.

The vote came in the midst of yet another meeting filled with yelling and profanity as the council majority remains at odds with Mayor Daniel Rodrick.

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The main argument on Wednesday night centered on the resolution to amend the budget, which was introduced in April, and whether the town was following state law.

Towns have a set of deadlines they have to meet when they set budgets each year, including deadlines for introducing the budget and adopting it.

According to a notice from the state Division of Local Government Services, towns operating under the mayor/council had a deadline of March 31 to introduce their 2026 budgets, and a deadline of April 30 to adopt their final budgets once approved by the state.

Toms River introduced its budget April 8 and scheduled a public hearing and final vote on the budget for the May 13 meeting. However, the budget hearing was pulled from May 13 agenda hours before the meeting without explanation.

On Wednesday, the agenda included a resolution to amend the introduced budget, with no details on the changes.

Resident Dennis Galante asked what was being amended because the resolution was not available to the public before the meeting. (As of 11 p.m. May 28 the resolution still was not available on the Toms River Township website.)

Dorothy Gallagher, Toms River's chief financial officer, said the amendment was to add a pair of grants, including a Clean C0mmunities grant for more than $267,000 and an Age Friendly Grant of more than $69,000.

The full resolution (you can read it here) included other changes, including breaking down salaries and wages by department — a standard requirement. In the budget introduced in April, all of the departments' salaries were lumped together under the umbrella of "Administration".

At that point, council members Clinton Bradley, Robert Bianchini and Tom Nivison, along with Galante, questioned whether the town could amend a budget that had not been presented to the public for a public hearing and had not been approved.

Rodrick insisted the amendment could be made because the town was being ordered to make the change by the state, and had Gallagher reiterate that the state had ordered changes.

Bradley read from a copy of the state laws regarding municipal budgets that appeared to say the budget could not be amended until it has been formally adopted.

"We want to see the proof," Nivison said to Rodrick. "We don't trust you."

Rodrick finally sent Gallagher to her office to get a copy of correspondence from the state to show to the council, but by then the argument had escalated to a screaming match. Nivison called Rodrick "the worst thing ever to happen to Toms River," and Rodrick repeated comments he has made about Nivison in the past alleging domestic violence.

The law on amending the budget is a bit confusing, as one paragraph seems to contradict another.

The paragraph that applies to Toms River's current situation says the town can amend the budget when state officials (referred to as "the director") say it must be changed.

It also says it can be amended during or after the public hearing on the budget — and that appears to be what created the confusion.

The vote on the amendment was four opposed — Bradley, Bianchini, Nivison and Council President David Ciccozzi — and three (Councilmen Craig Coleman and Harry Aber, and Councilwoman Lynn O'Toole) voting in favor.

Bianchini said he was voting against the resolution because, he claimed, the council was given the information at the last minute. However, the resolution was listed on the May 27 agenda on Friday, May 22.

Angered by the resolution rejection, Rodrick demanded to know whether any of the council members were going to pay the fines that could be levied on the town for enacting its budget more than a month after the deadline — in spite of the fact that the town had missed the budget deadlines to begin with.

"You're an idiot," he yelled at one after the amendment was rejected.

The amendment included a public hearing date and final vote to adopt on June 10. It's unclear when the budget hearing will be held.

As the heated exchanges grew louder and louder, so did the insults, with Nivison repeating his "worst thing that has happened to Toms River" comment several times. Rodrick insulted Bradley, saying "get a job", something Rodrick has yelled at residents who have challenged him on several occasions.

Bradley was working in cybersecurity when he ran for the council in 2025.

Rodrick repeatedly tried to drown out other speakers who challenged him by talking over them and yelling, which led to audience members yelling and even one getting into an argument with Rodrick's wife, who was in the back of the room, each telling the other to shut up.

Paul Williams, who has run for council at least twice in the last five years and has pushed back on Rodrick's repeated interruptions of speakers, got up and started screaming over Rodrick, saying several times, "If he doesn't have to shut his mouth, none of us do."

Williams' rant seemed to be the final straw, as the council meeting was adjourned at that point. Nivison said there was a technical issue and it appeared the council thought the live video of the council meeting had been turned off on the township's YouTube channel. Cutting the live feed has been a regular occurrence in 2026, with Rodrick telling the IT staff to shut it off when public comment began — in spite of the council passing resolutions both in 2024 and in 2026 insisting meeting videos be available in full to the public.

The shouting matches began early on Wednesday, when Nivison tried to read a response to a story from Shore News Network that he said accused him of being opposed to firearms and the Second Amendment. The story was based on remarks Nivison made in response to comments from Mark Mutter, the former township clerk and former mayor of Toms River, about a shooting range that is part of a sports and restaurant complex that is filling the former Boston's/Baiamonte's site at the corner of Fischer and Hooper avenues.

Mutter was urging the council to deny a liquor license transfer for the property, and was critical of having the shooting range on the same property as a bar-restaurant (they are in separate buildings). The project had been approved by the planning board months ago and had undergone extensive approvals through other agencies, including the state Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

The Shore News Network story went so far as to include an AI photo of Nivison in T-shirt with an anti-gun message with rainbows and a reference to "trans".

Nivison said the story has resulted in threats to him, his family and his farm, including a threat his granddaughter received when she answered the phone at the farm.

As Nivison spoke, Rodrick began yelling over him, calling Nivison a liberal and saying he couldn't wait until Nivison is voted out — though Nivison's term does not end until Dec. 31, 2027, the same as Rodrick's mayoral term.

Williams later in the meeting pointed out that Rodrick ran for and was elected to the council as a Democrat in 2017. Williams has said he worked on that campaign, which Rodrick has repeatedly denied.

You can watch the full exchanges below. Be aware there is profanity.