The tax burdened residents of West Long Branch have an opportunity this November to put in a proactive, independent and intelligent young businessman as mayor.

John Hegarty has innovative ideas to save us all tax dollars. He has tried to share some of them with the mayor and council but his input is not wanted any more than that of the ordinary citizens who come to get information, help or share concerns.

Many good things happen in West Long Branch. Joe De Leonardo and the members of his recreation committee do a fantastic job. Our police work very hard to keep us all safe. Many other town employees and volunteers keep things moving but we have problems that cannot longer be ignored.

The year 1983 was the last year the Democrats controlled the council and thus the decisions made to run our town. Even though we have had two Democratic mayors in recent years, they did not have the votes to decide what would and would not be done.

We have a deteriorating, moldy, leaky police station. All reports the town has paid for indicate total lack of maintenance for decades, all while under Republican control. Our present mayor has been on the council for a good part of that time. The health of all employees in that building is at stake. We are now faced with a very expensive solution no matter in which direction we head. The council has a $5.5 million solution. John Hegarty - whose expertise is in construction - thinks there are better solutions.

He has looked into the possibility of shared services and has options for us. He is also concerned abut the continual decline of our beautiful Franklin Lake and is anxious to find out what grants are available. He knows there are many lost opportunities for other grant dollars as well.

We taxpayers cannot afford lawsuits against our own governing bodies. We are paying dearly to defend ourselves against ourselves right now. It is not the only suit the town is involved in. We cannot afford to pay employees who do not have time to serve our residents. We cannot afford outrageous proposals for renovate Shore. The elementary school was $7.5 million. How can a school of the same size be $50 million? Ours was the only mayor/council who took no interest in that plight. We need to put all contracts out to bid and include the professional people as well. The "old boy" system costs us dearly. We can no longer afford the old ways where our leaders wait to react rather than project ahead and act. We need John Hegarty and Barry Pollack - his well-qualified running mate - to lead us all before none of us can afford to live in WLB due to a lack of fiscal responsibility.

Mary Lynch

West Long Branch