Committee Candidate Profile: Gary Vaccaro

As Election Day nears, Lacey Patch is profiling the candidates. See the related stories for more on the upcoming elections.

• Candidate Name: Gary Vaccaro
• Age: 53
• Address: 116 Heatherington Court, Lanoka Harbor
• Occupation: Regulatory Compliance/H&S Supervisor at Brick Township MUA
• Marital Status: Married with three children

Vaccaro sees making the township affordable and safe as his top priorities, he said.

“The number one issue is taxes. People are concerned about their taxes,” Vaccaro said.

Taxes for the average assessed home have increased by 116 percent, Vaccaro said. The total municipal tax burden has gone from $3.3 million to $7.5 million and Lacey receives the most amount of state aid in Ocean County, 17 in the state.

“We have severe budgetary issues here. They want a town that’s affordable,” Vaccaro said. “I want to set a goal for the tax rate and work backwards.”

The goal is to stabilize taxes by prioritizing spending, he said.

Vaccaro used fertilizing the township fields as an example. The township would like to fertilize the fields but it is not a necessity, he said. The township should look into funding and speak with recreational clubs to find alternative ways to pay for the fertilization.

“We’re not going to be talking about furloughing employees on one hand and then fertilizing the fields on another. You’re choosing grass over people,” Vaccaro said.

The committee has to determine what is important, he said. Shared services are an area the township needs to consider to cut costs.

Vaccaro has been talking to the mayor of Berkeley and would like to hold workshops with neighboring communities to determine where shared services would be effective, he said. A few areas he is considering include maintenance, garbage pickup and the police department.

“Shared services is a way of cutting costs and it doesn’t necessarily mean you’re cutting the workforce,” Vaccaro said.

“You can do all you want about cutting costs but if you’re not generating revenue, it doesn’t do any good. We need some real long-term revenue,” Vaccaro said.

Vaccaro would like to explore alternative energy companies and companies who would be willing to build a manufacturing facility to create jobs.

The township could possibly install solar carports over municipal parking areas, he said.

The township used to have an Economic Development Committee to encourage new businesses to come to town. That is a group Vaccaro would like to restore, he said.

“These are things we need to do. I’m not talking all building. We need to keep open space. It adds character to the town and it’s a historic nature of the town,” he said.

Vaccaro also wants to encourage the development of a town center, which would be addressed in the township’s Master Plan.

“I don’t know if it’s feasible. It’s something I would love to look into…. Sometimes you just need a vision,” Vaccaro said. “These are things I’m trying to do now because I don’t think we have time to wait. I want to hit the ground running. I want to be in there and have ideas ready to go.”

Encouraging Citizen Involvement

Many of Vaccaro’s ideas have come from citizens, he said.

“I think that’s important to get citizens involved,” Vaccaro said. “I think if we work together, we could solve a lot of these problems. I’m not going to know all the answers. I’m going to do the best I can to try and find the answers and work with the citizens. That’s really what I’m all about.”

The township used to have a Citizens Advisory Committee so residents can present their ideas to the local government, he said.

The group was in place during this past budget season, but became less active as ideas were turned away, Vaccaro said.

Vaccaro also wants to work with the police chief to find a way to get more officers on the road at minimal tax impact, he said. The number of staff is where it was 20 years ago.

“You want a town that’s affordable but you also want a town that’s safe,” Vaccaro said. “I have been speaking to the police chief about having a citizen patrol. Basically it’s eyes and ears only. It’s a low cost initiative.”

Vaccaro would like to continue to support the Municipal Alliance on drug awareness programs as well as approach the recreation director about possibly opening a youth recreation center through funding and grants, he said.

“All of these are quality of life issues,” he said.

He is also looking into launching a Waterways Commission, which would be made up of citizen volunteers who could look into funding to restore the waterfront areas.

“They pay the highest taxes. There are areas where they can’t even get their boats out. There are beach erosion issues. These are all things I want to look at,” he said.

Oyster Creek

The township receives an energy tax of over $11 million from the state for housing Oyster Creek, which accounts for 43.4 percent of the budget.

There have been concerns that the state will continue to chip away at the township’s energy tax receipt. Vaccaro explained that the funding is under the Energy Tax Receipts program, which is something that every town is included in.

The township is guaranteed, under that legislation, to get the lowest amount that they got in 2002, which was just over $11 million. The funding is not dependent on Oyster Creek Generating Station, he said.

“[The state] can’t go below that or they’ll default on it,” Vaccaro said. Vaccaro has a letter from Sen. Chris Connors stating that it is highly unlikely that legislation would change because it would have to be altered for the entire state.

Vaccaro pointed out that Maxim Power Corp. is located behind Oyster Creek. In 2008, the company acquired the 86-megawatt plant and the 30 acres of land. Maxim Power has an agreement with JCP&L and they provide backup power to Oyster Creek, Vaccaro said.

Vaccaro called Maxim Power and spoke to the Vice President of Operations, who showed interest in exploring the potential of expanding the facility, he said.

“I can’t solely be concerned about replacing 654 megawatts,” Vaccaro said. “If I can try to bring something into the town- a manufacturing facility, maybe an alternative energy facility- something that’s going to create jobs…It’s going to be what’s best for the town of Lacey.”

There is also money from the generating station going towards the federal Host Energy Fund so that the spent fuel could be stored at Yucca Mountain, the site in Nevada for a national nuclear waste repository before the plan was scrapped in 2010.

“If we’re going to have to store our spent fuel, some of that money should be coming to us,” Vaccaro said.

To learn more about Vaccaro, visit vaccaroforlacey.com or his YouTube Channel.

To view Vaccaro’s financial strategy and his Pay-to-Play ordinance, see the attached PDFs.