Councilman Frank Borelli Officially Announces Bid for Re-Election

Clarkstown Town Board member Frank Borelli, R-New City, Tuesday night officially announced his bid for re-election at the Paramount Country Club on Zukor Road.

The event, which was run by Citizens to Elect Frank Borelli, also served as a fundraiser for the campaign.

Borelli’s speech at the event discussed his accomplishments over the past several years, including consolidating several town governmet positions.  He also noted that this year the town was able to cut property taxes for the first time in years.

“I’m running because I believe there is still more we can do to improve services, to improve efficiencies, and to continue our work and do more with less,” Borelli said during his speech. “And because I believe I’m the best choice to help the town continue what we’ve started, I’m going to run again.”

And Borelli noted after his speech that if re-elected he will continue to push for consolidation within the government and other ways of limiting spending without decreasing the level of town services.

“The idea is to continuously look at ways to do things better,” he said after his speech. “Don’t ever settle for what we’re doing as good enough because we owe ourselves to the tax payer, we have to do things to save them money.”

Borelli grew up in New City, where his father, Frank Borelli, was at one point the chief financial officer and director of Marsh & McLennan Companies, the largest insurance broker in the world. The younger Borelli worked for this company as well and currently is a partner in Ducey Insurance Agency in Stony Point. In fact, he noted during his speech that he first decided to run for public office because he felt his business background would provide a new perspective within the government.

“I think what happens when you’re a businessperson, you have to make the payroll every week,” Borelli clarified after his speech. “You have to have enough money to pay your workers, so you need to stay in business. So it’s very important that you watch your expenses, that you’re very careful about your spending, and you also have to always be looking for new sources of revenue. What happens is, in government, we’re not always so concerned because we have the taxpayer. ‘We can always increase taxes’ used to be the thought.”

Indeed the Borelli family has been a big part of Rockland for many years, a fact that Rockland County Executive C. Scott Vanderhoef pointed out in his introductory remarks.

“The Borelli family has stood for service for a long time here in Rockland County,” Vanderhoef said. “[The younger Frank] has a heart of gold, but he has a sense of what public responsibility and duty is that he has derived from his father and his mother, and he comes, therefore, as a thoroughbred of Rockland County politics and service to the community. He is the future of Rockland County.”

Borelli currently serves as the Town Board’s liaison for the Civil Service Employees Association, the Police Department, Emergency Services, the Highway Department, Department of Environmental Control (specifically recycling, sewers, and drainage), the Receiver of Taxes, and the Sanitation Commission.  Thus current Superintendent of Highways Wayne Ballard has worked closely with Borelli for several years, and he came out to the event to show his support for the candidate.

“[Borelli] and the rest of the Town Board have made me successful because of the funding that they give me, which makes me have the tools in order to function,” he said. “So I appreciate what he’s done for me in the past, and I hope I can continue working for him.”

Also there to show his support was current Town Supervisor Alex Gromack, a Congers Democrat, who has worked alongside Borelli since the latter was elected to the Town Board.

“I’m here in support of Frank Borelli because he’s been part of a progressive team in Clarkstown that has been responsive to the needs of our residents,” Gromack said. "We’ve worked very closely together, the entire Town Board, in lowering the cost of government, cutting taxes, and providing great service, and Frank Borelli’s been an important part of that team, and I certainly look forward to continuing a very strong working relationship with him, and I’m  here tonight in support of that partnership that we’ve forged together over the last three years, and I look forward to working with him again for the people of Clarkstown.”

In fact, not only did Gromack appear at the event to show his support for Borelli, but Gromack’s two possible opponents in the upcoming election for Town Supervisor, Republicans Ralph Sabatini and John Miele, also came.

And according to Legislature Ed Day, R-New City, Borelli not only gets things done within the town government, but also works with the county government.

“I view him as a partner,” Day said of Borelli. “When we have different levels of government, it’s sometimes difficult to get things done. With Frank and I, we’re friends, we have our eye on the ball for the betterment of the community, and it’s great when he has a county issue he can come to me, and when I have a town issue I go to him.”

Borelli graduated from Clarkstown North High School in 1981 and from Gettyburg College in 1985 with a liberal arts degree. He was elected to the Town Board in 2007 and has also been involved in various local organizations, including the New City Little League. He is currently on the Board of Directors for the JCC of Rockland, the Rockland Community Foundation, and the United Way of Rockland, and he formerly served as the president of the New City Rotary and the chairman of both Leadership Rockland and the Rockland Police Chiefs Foundation. He resides in New City with his wife Melissa and his three daughters Amanda, Danielle, and Francesca.

Here is the text of Borelli's speech Tuesday night:

I want to thank everyone for being here with me this evening.

Tonight I am formally announcing that I am seeking reelection to my second four-year term as a Clarkstown Town Councilman.

    I’m sure that every candidate who runs for office does so for their own unique reasons.  Four years ago when I ran, I did so because I believed I could make a difference in how the town was run and that I could bring a businessperson’s perspective to the decisions our elected officials were making.

    Thanks to everyone who supported and helped me in 2007, I was able to win that election.  I am gratified that so many of the same people who helped me then are once again offering their help and support to me.

    Although it’s impossible for me to fully express my gratitude for all the help that I’ve received – and that I’m continuing to receive – I do want to say “thank you” to everyone who is here this evening.  I cannot begin to tell you how much your presence means to me.

    The past three and a half years have been a real learning experience for me.  They’ve also been extremely rewarding.  Working in partnership with the town administration we’ve been able to achieve some very important accomplishments.

    Speaking of the town administration, I want to personally commend Supervisor Gromack for his willingness to work in a bi-partisan manner and to put the needs of the families and taxpayers ahead of partisan politics.

    In just three and a half years, we’ve eliminated waste and inefficiencies… merged services… combined positions… and eliminated unnecessary positions.  At the same time, we’ve improved town services.

    Today, the town is operating with the fewest employees in years.  The fact is, Clarkstown is doing more with less… and the numbers prove it.

    We’ve stopped the annual spending increases… and we’ve stopped the annual tax hikes.  In fact, we are spending $2.5 million less this year than we did just three years ago.

More importantly, we’ve created a tax stabilization fund to help mitigate future tax hikes and this year, for the first time in anyone’s memory, we actually cut property taxes… a very rare accomplishment in these difficult economic times when governments at every level are drowning in debt and looking for new revenues.

    As a result of our efforts, the town has earned a AAA rating from Standard and Poors – the highest rating a municipality can get – and last year CNN’s Money Magazine rated the town the 41st best place in the country in which to live.

    I’m proud of these accomplishments.  While I certainly didn’t achieve them by myself, I truly believe that the “businessman’s” insights and approach I’ve brought to the Town Board have played an important role.

    Now, my term is almost up and I’m running for re-election.  As proud as I am of my record, that’s not why I’m running again.

I’m running because I believe there is still more we can do to improve services… to improve efficiencies… to continue our work to do more with less… and because I believe I’m the best choice to help the town continue what we’ve started.

With friends and supporters like everyone who is here tonight, there is no way we can lose. 

Thank you.