Meet the Candidates for Mt. Laurel Council: Week 4

Every week, The Sun will ask candidates in the Nov. 4 election for council seats to respond to questions pertinent to local issues. This week’s question: Make your final pitch. Why should you be elected to town council?

Dennis Riley

I have more than 30 years of experience in finance and know firsthand how to make government live within its means and prioritize our finances to provide a brighter future for Mt. Laurel. I served for more than 12 years as a volunteer on the Mt. Laurel Planning Board and have a long track record of helping to make Mt. Laurel a better place to do business and raise a family.

Our residents are still feeling the effects of a tough economy and have been forced to do more with less to provide for their families. I am proud of the efforts of local Republican leaders to ensure that our government lives by the same financial standards that our families do. Rich and I have the professional experience and fresh ideas necessary to make local government even more efficient.

Our opponents, a taxpayer-funded political appointee and a criminal attorney, offer nothing but a distorted view of municipal budgeting. They have no experience saving taxpayers money and no solutions for our future. Mt. Laurel deserves better.

We will pursue shared services opportunities that will provide Mt. Laurel with more services and improve our quality of life at a lower cost to taxpayers. We will preserve our open space and guard against overdevelopment. Rich and I will give residents a seat at the table in developing a long-range plan. That’s why we will develop a 10-year plan that paves a road to a brighter future. Together, we can do more with less money.

Dan Rosenberg

Mt. Laurel is a great place to live, but I, like many residents, have become troubled by the reckless financial decisions at town hall that are simply making our township unaffordable. During the past three years, politicians on the council have raided $15 million from the budget surplus instead of finding cost-saving alternatives. The squandering of the budget surplus did a tremendous disservice to taxpayers. The council should have incorporated shared services, third-party purchasing and eliminated wasteful spending so taxpayers could have instead seen a cut in their property tax bills.

This is a critical election for the future of Mt. Laurel, and the choices are clear. Republicans have had a nearly four-year run with all five seats on the township council, and have been reckless with our tax dollars by wasting $15 million from the budget surplus. By electing two Democrats, the Mt. Laurel Township Council will become a bi-partisan governing body that will restore the checks and balances necessary to fix the fiscal crisis.

I’m running for council because our township is facing tough fiscal challenges, and we need new ideas and fresh approaches to protect taxpayers. In this campaign, I have offered proposals to reform local government, making it more open and transparent, and called for fiscally responsible choices to save taxpayer money. By working together, we can incorporate smart shared service agreements, conduct truly independent audit, and eliminate wasteful government spending.

In this election, the financial direction of Mt. Laurel is at stake. The township council has veered off course, but together we can restore a fiscally responsible approach to protect our community. I promise that if elected, my commitment every day will be to fix the fiscal mess and respectfully ask for your vote for township council.

Rich Van Noord

Experience matters. Salary and benefits are the two largest expenditures in any municipal budget. Dennis Riley’s financial background and my background in providing cost effective health-care solutions makes us uniquely qualified to provide solutions to rising costs associated with our staff.

The current administration has done remarkably well in keeping the township on sound financial footing since the financial collapse six years ago. Dennis and I are seeking new ways to do more with less through shared services and a long-range financial plan that will provide residents a voice in developing a 10-year roadmap for our future. Wherever possible, we need to team up with other government entities to provide quality services at a lower price tag to taxpayers.

By making the false claim that $15 million in township reserve funds have been used to fill the budget, our opponents have shown they’ve never been involved or asked questions to understand municipal finance. If they understood how Mt. Laurel’s municipal finances worked, they would understand that their campaign plan would mean a $5 million tax increase for local families, seniors and small businesses. The risks are too high to elect two politicians with a reckless disregard for the truth.

I hope Dennis and I can count on the support of our friends and neighbors in Mt. Laurel to keep us moving in a fiscally responsible direction so we can provide tax relief, fight against overdevelopment and work with residents to provide a 10-year blueprint for a brighter future.

Carol Murphy

Mt. Laurel is a great place to call home, and I’m concerned that the shortsighted decisions by the council are going to make our community unaffordable. In the past three years, the council has raided $15 million from the budget surplus instead of finding cost-saving alternatives. If this reckless financial approach continues, residents will be hit with massive tax hikes, making Mt. Laurel unaffordable.

This election is a crossroads for Mt. Laurel taxpayers. Since Republicans gained all five seats on the township council, they have engaged in reckless financial practices, failed to provide the most basic level of transparency and accountability, and have poorly communicated with residents. The lack of checks and balances on the Mt. Laurel Township council has hurt taxpayers.

There is a different way. By electing two Democrats, residents will have a bi-partisan council that can work together to solve this fiscal crisis. If elected, I will fight to protect the budget surplus, incorporate shared services, require independent audits, and root out waste and inefficiency. Additionally, by passing reforms that would make our local government more transparent, open and accountable, taxpayers will no longer be in the dark about the critical financial decisions being made at town hall.

I’ve worked for both Democratic and Republican governors in state government. Politicians often talk about working across the aisle to get things done, but I’ve actually done it. I want to take that experience to town hall and fix the financial mess imposed on us by the Mt. Laurel council. Together, we can improve service, heighten transparency, end the fiscal crisis and protect your tax dollars.

I respectfully ask for your vote and promise if elected to make you proud as your councilwoman.