Toms River Mayoral Election 2023: Dan Rodrick

TOMS RIVER, NJ — Election Day 2023 is less than three weeks away, and Toms River voters will be going to the polls to cast their ballots for candidates at the local, county and state levels.

In Toms River, there are two candidates seeking the four-year term as mayor.

Patch sent a questionnaire to both candidates seeking their responses. Here are the replies from Daniel Rodrick.

Your Name: Dan Rodrick

Age (as of Election Day): 47

Party Affiliation: Republican

Campaign Website: Not provided

Family: I’m a married man and father of two children who attend Toms River Schools.

Education: My undergraduate degree concentrations were in geology, environmental science, and education. Additionally in my early 30s I went back to school for a master’s degree in administration and supervision.

Occupation: My wife and I are both public schools teachers who work in Monmouth County.

Does anyone in your family work in politics or government? This includes any relatives who work in the government you're running for. No.

Previous or current elected or appointed office: Toms River Township Council since 2018.

Why are you seeking elective office?

Toms River is in big trouble. Taxes are out of control and high density multi-family development continues to reshape our town. Our once-quiet community is steadily becoming one of the biggest cities in New Jersey. These changes are having a disastrous impact on taxes, quality of life, traffic, and our school system.

I’ve been fighting overdevelopment & higher taxes for the last six years. Since being elected to Town Council in 2017, I have voted against all multi-family development, every tax increase, and I was the only councilman who voted against Mayor Hill’s plan for two, 10-story, 500 unit apartment projects downtown. I also opposed the downtown redevelopment plan, which calls for 20 more apartment buildings up to 12 stories.

These apartments will never bring in enough tax revenue to cover the cost of services they’ll require and property taxes will skyrocket! I voted against these reckless plans, and if elected mayor I will repeal the downtown redevelopment plan & stop the two, 500-unit, 10-story apartment projects from being built. I will also fight to overturn the 30-year property tax exemption they received.

I have voted against every tax increase and opposed millions in waste. If elected mayor, I will cut the wasteful spending that is driving up taxes.

Drawing more activity to the downtown area has been a topic for years. The proposed downtown development on the former Red Carpet Inn property was unpopular. What would you propose to bring more activity to the downtown area?

The current approach for downtown is all wrong. The administration believes that bringing in apartments will increase foot traffic and they feel that will improve commerce. The problem is, these apartments are virtually tax-free and taxpayers will have to flip the bill. The truth is, there are plenty of people who live in the downtown area already and they’re not walking around.

If we want a thriving downtown, Downtown Toms River needs to be a destination. First I propose that the two new liquor licenses that we now have the right to create should be geographically confined to downtown. They should also offered at a very low opening bid price, maybe $25,000 or so. Downtown doesn’t offer residents enough reasons to visit the area outside of business hours. Two more liquor licenses would begin to change that.

I also envision the current location of the boatworks as a large pier, even larger than the one in Belmar. We should create a township concession liquor license and restaurant like Island Beach State Park’s very successful Red Fox Bar and Grill. We can easily add free liquor licenses on township property and along with the other two new liquor licenses the total number of new establishments serving alcohol downtown would be 4 times what it is now.

I’d also like to see municipal boat slips and waverunner slips at the new pier and in Huddy park. We can lease these out annually and leave some open for free hourly parking when folks visit downtown. We also envision a sprinkler park at Huddy as well. I believe another waterfront bar, a sprinkler park, and boat/waverunner slips downtown will get the ball rolling in summer. We could also advertise Toms River downtown as a destination with the State Park Service with signs at Tices Shoal. I believe we can draw those boaters in for lunch and dinner.

In addition, I think we need to do more firework shows. The boardwalks were very successful at boosting weekday foot traffic and fireworks are very reasonable. That would bring boaters in too.

In winter, I propose we move our outdoor ice skating facilities downtown as well. Right now, the outdoor rink is right next to the indoor rink and there’s nothing around it. Bringing ice skating downtown in winter will supercharge the downtown economy in the off-season as well. All of these ideas will increase foot traffic, be good for the economy, and provide recreational opportunities to residents as well.

Downtown traffic has been a source of complaints for years. There was a proposal for a downtown loop and Toms River was awarded a $5.6 million grant for the project, which the New Jersey Highway Authority has proposed tying into for a Garden State Parkway project. What would you propose to address downtown traffic issues?

Again, I will fight any attempt to build more apartments and it is my intention to repeal the current redevelopment plan. Downtown should be a destination, not a small city with thousands of apartments.

The state Department of Education has contended that Toms River is not paying its fair share of property taxes to support its schools and that has been a critical piece of the school funding cuts the Toms River Regional School District has faced. How would you address this issue?

The plan to move forward with two tax-free apartment buildings downtown will further complicate our already underfunded schools and will be disastrous for local school funding. Apartments never bring in enough revenue to cover the cost of educational services; especially when they are tax-free pilot programs.

As for school funding, it is a shame that the Murphy Administration and the legislature still haven’t addressed the unfair nature of the funding formula. Demographic shifts in our community have resulted in a decrease of almost 4,000 public school students. Every time the public schools lose a student to private school, our district loses about $4,600 dollars in state aid. Then the district still has to cover the cost of state-mandated transportation and funding for the special education needs of private school students. Lakewood is facing an amplified version of this same problem and there needs to be a legislative fix. Politicians continue to tell residents that they are fighting Murphy’s cuts, but without a legislative fix this problem will not go away. As Mayor, I will work with the School Board and Superintendent on shared services agreements to help reduce their costs, and we can work together to find new sources of private sector revenue. But again, without a legislative fix, our school funding is in big trouble.