West Orange Mayor Candidate Profile: Joe Krakoviak

WEST ORANGE, NJ — EDITOR'S NOTE: The following article contains information about Joe Krakoviak, one of several candidates who have announced their campaigns for West Orange mayor. Patch has reached out to the other candidates with the same questions, and we will post any replies as they are received.

Joe Krakoviak, a former town council member and president, is running for West Orange mayor in the town's nonpartisan municipal election on Tuesday, Nov. 8. Candidates do not choose political parties in nonpartisan elections.

>> Read More: West Orange Mayor Not Seeking Re-Election In 2022 (Updated)

Patch recently asked Krakoviak four questions about his campaign and the township. See his replies below.

PATCH: What makes you a qualified candidate for West Orange mayor?

KRAKOVIAK:

• Financial journalist The Wall Street Journal (stringer) and USA Today, covering municipal finance market and commercial real estate
• Worked for a municipal bond insurer (MBIA)
• Professional communicator and writer
• 10 years on Township Council, one year as Council President
• Two years as founder of West Orange Grassroots, a non-partisan website providing transparency on municipal finances, redevelopment and Council meetings.

PATCH: Property taxes and development are always big election-year topics in West Orange. What’s your plan for both if elected?

KRAKOVIAK:

1. Stop all the Council’s ruinous financial decisions, such as 30-year tax abatements, which sacrifice millions of dollars of future tax revenue to wealthy developers, and the Council’s designation of the entire town an area in need of rehabilitation, in which the town gives up half the five-year revenue it would earn from increased assessments from improvements, both residential and commercial.

2. Hire a full-time planner with economic development experience to focus heavily on commercial development and away from residential, which is costlier for the township and increases the housing stock -- reducing the value of existing houses.

3. Cut back on borrowing after the other three mayoral candidates voted to increase debt in the last three years by 77% to $142 million – just as exploding interest rates are doubling and tripling the interest on our debt. $49 million in short-term debt re-prices this year, putting tremendous upward pressure on property taxes.

4. Here's a video, "Hell in a Handbasket," https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsSOTK4e44E, on how the skyrocketing debt the other three mayoral candidates on the Council have approved and their bad financial management are hurting our town and putting upward pressure on taxes.

My plan to regain financial health:

1. Stop proposing these ruinous financial decisions that have been approved by the Council.

2. Stop borrowing except what is absolutely necessary until we get this disaster under control. Review the current authorized but not yet borrowed bond ordinances and look to cancel or reduce those that aren’t critical.

3. Focus and prioritize paying off this debt and lowering the cost of this debt.

4. Work to lower costs and raise revenue to have more money to pay debt service. A) Greatly increase our competitive bidding power to drive down costs. We give out a lot of no-bid and one-bid contracts. We need to bid out more of these contracts and also not accept one-bid contracts. The one-bid garbage contract increased our costs by more than 60%, raising our costs $1.2 million the next year. The contract comes up next year, and I’m going to greatly expand the specifications to get more bids. B) Look at selling a lot of the property we borrowed to buy, such as the golf course.

5. Identify and cut waste. A) The one-bid contract with the garbage vendor raised costs in the first year by more than 60%, or $1.2 million. When it comes up for rebid next year, we need to not only pursue the few natural-gas-powered carters in the state like the one we have now, but also solicit bids from diesel-powered carters; opening the process to increased competition should lower costs. B) Meet and consult with our employees who do the day-to-day work in the township to identify ways to increase efficiency and cut waste. C) Another waste was selling the public library without a real estate appraisal. We had no idea how much that land was worth.

6. Change our budget process to target no increase in taxes instead of the current practice of building toward the maximum 2% increase allowed by state law – which we hit to the penny each year.

7. Revive the Citizens Budget Advisory Committee to get seven more sets of eyes on the budget process, looking to make the budget more efficient.

8. Do all of this with maximum transparency so that residents know what’s going on and have a chance to provide informed input.

PATCH: What’s one thing about West Orange that always puts a smile on your face?

KRAKOVIAK: I love the Public Library. That’s a place you can always see the diversity of the township – young and old, wealthy and working-class, long-time residents and new ones, deep-rooted residents and immigrants from around the world, different religions, ages, interests. Most are quite serious, but they almost always seem to be enjoying themselves. It’s a shame the Council voted to find the facility “blighted” and to move it to behind ShopRite, where many of our less-advantaged residents cannot benefit from it.

I helped revive the Friends of the West Orange Public Library and served on the board as treasurer. I pledge to open a satellite facility to continue to serve those area residents.

PATCH: Is there a post on your social media account that really sums up your campaign in a nutshell?

KRAKOVIAK: https://www.facebook.com/KRAKOVIAK4MAYOR/posts/pfbid02Ac84QphpU2KjNzFu3bnMx7WTT9fZiDm4aDUgntJmBAtGaZ18kZavt8jDZKUFvs9Nl

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