Millstone Township Committee Elias Abilheira Next month, two three-year-term Township Committee seats will be up for grabs in Millstone. Republican incumbents Elias Abilheira, who is a committeeman, and Nancy Grbelja, the current mayor, will face Democrat William Nurko and John Pfefferkorn, a Republican running as an independent, in the Nov. 7 election. All four committee seats in addition to the mayoral seat are now held by Republicans. Elias Abilheira Address: He has resided in the township for 14 years and currently lives in the Perrineville section of town. Occupation: He is a senior partner in a firm representing Fortune 500 corporations in federal court matters. Family information: He is married to Mariola, and the couple has one son. Other background information: He serves as pro bono counsel for his church and on the Supreme Court Ethics Committee. He is a federal arbitrator for the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey and also serves as a member of the Board of Directors for the Freehold Center Partnership, a group dedicated to the economic redevelopment of Freehold Borough's historic business district. He has served on Millstone Township's Planning Board and Open Space Council, and is currently the township's liaison to the state and county. On deciding to run I first ran because I saw our opponents receiving thousands of dollars in pay-to-play money from outside of our town and county and awarding no-bid contracts to their contributors. When I was able to earn a 3 or 4 percent return on a $5,000 deposit, I watched our opponents leave millions of our tax dollars in accounts earning less than a fraction of that amount. Finally, I saw developers backing our opponents, and in exchange they refused to pass ordinances that would charge the developers for the cost of their development. I could no longer stand by and watch our town go down in financial ruin through their incompetent and unethical practices. After three years in office, we have eliminated over $1 million of waste a year. While we have put in place the first long-term plans for finance and open space in the history of the township, I still want to finish the long-term plans we have begun for recreation and ratables. Also, I want to see through to conclusion the solar energy initiative I introduced this summer. On campaign contributions We have accepted money from the residents - the residents and only the residents - and we do owe them our allegiance. Our opponents have both accepted thousands of dollars from outside political action committees and special-interest groups, some even from out of state. Clearly, anyone who accepts thousands of dollars from outside interests for a township race cannot honestly say they will represent the residents. On taxes In 2003, when I ran for office, our opponents projected us to have a 27-cent municipal tax rate by today, instead of the 9-cent rate we currently have. By reforming our municipal finances, we will earn the taxpayers $1.2 million this year on their tax dollars. Our opponents' old practice of leaving the residents money in sweep accounts would have earned less than $400,000 this year. We also began to pursue all available grants. While our opponents tried to buy the Waters property just with township money, I was able to change the transaction to recover $600,000 in state grants for the taxpayers. Our opponents refused to make developers pay for the cost of stormwater management and recreation. This cost us over $400,000 in 2003 alone. We forced passage of ordinances to shift those costs from the taxpayers to the developers. Our school taxes are still going to go up due to the lack of planning by our opponents, which allowed residential sprawl without attracting clean commercial ratables to offset the rising school taxes that come with homes. We put into place an innovative zoning change that will now generate over $550,000 on 50 acres along Route 33 with over $400,000 in new school tax revenue without increasing the student population. We also resurrected the Economic Development Council, which is preparing a long-term plan to increase the revenue generated by our highway corridors even further. Our solar energy initiative will also immediately reduce energy costs by about $10,000 a year upfront and over $100,000 a year once fully implemented, with most of the savings going toward school tax relief. On development We need to make sure that any further development is well planned and not haphazard. Tax-exempt cemeteries, as supported by our opponents, do not belong on Route 33, which is our highway corridor. On Route 33 we need clean ratables to stabilize school taxes. Unfortunately, our opponents allowed cement plants, asphalt plants and mines, which are just poor ratables. The Economic Development Council we resurrected is currently working on a plan to improve on the zoning changes we have put into place on Route 33, which is for the first time in our township's history attracting clean ratables that will generate hundreds of thousands of dollars for our schools to shift some of the burden off the homeowners. On open space and farmland preservation We took the program from [being] bankrupt to [being] one of the premier programs in the state in less than three years. Our opponents preserved less than 500 acres over six years. We preserved over 1,900 in less than three years, starting with the insolvent mess they left behind. We will continue to make our program the best in the state going forward. We are working with the county and state to introduce new tax-planning devices for the farmers so that we can preserve more land for less, and the farmer walks away with more money due to the tax savings. On recreation We need more opportunities for teens, adults and people who do not participate in organized sports. Unfortunately, in the past our opponents refused to make developers contribute toward the recreation cost of development and failed to put in place a long-term plan for recreation. We are working with the Recreation Committee to put together a long-term plan for our recreational needs to avoid all of the mistakes from the past like giving away Frogbridge [Day Camp] for $600,000 [and] then spending $3 million for Wagner Farm Park, but building the locker rooms too small [for them] to be used. By making developers pay their fair share and using more effective grant techniques, we will be able to grow our recreation program cost-effectively. My son and nephew enjoy soccer, Little League and Pop Warner, but we need to do even more and do it cost-effectively. On other important issues Millstone's greatest threat - besides people like William Nurko and John Pfefferkorn - is Trenton. This year, Trenton increased our state debt by several billion [dollars], raised taxes by double digits and tried to double-tax Millstone for the New Jersey State Police coverage we already pay for. We are able to make major reform happen here in Millstone, and we were able to stop the effort to double-tax us for the state police, but until there is real property-tax reform in Trenton, we will never be able to roll back the residents' overall tax bill, but will only be able to affect our local portion. One area [where] we have made great headway in the past 18 months is that now for the first time there is real legislation being considered to give Millstone a fair say in our high school costs. We will not see a resolution to this continued taxation without representation this year, but the changes on the table would end this lopsided situation if we can get them through the state maze. This is one area that we expect to see a resolution in the state law before any other state tax reform occurs. On why you should vote for me To start with the objective facts, Nancy Grbelja and I are not afraid to debate. Our opponents refuse to debate and refuse to run on their record. Instead, they have already run out their same, old, tired campaign of lies, personal attacks and slander. [But] I can understand why they have to do this, as their records are appalling. We have never received thousands of dollars in pay-to-play and special-interest money and have never voted to benefit our family or relatives or those of our fellow elected committee members. Our families have never received no-bid deals with the township. Unfortunately, our opponents cannot say the same. That alone should make the choice for the residents clear. With respect to our achievements, we revamped the town's finances, saved from bankruptcy the municipal open space program, have put together the first zoning changes that are bringing in real, solid, clean commercial ratables, and have presented multiple interlocal projects with the Board of Education. These efforts have eliminated waste and will generate income from outside sources to reduce the tax burden on the residents by over $1 million a year. Our opponents were in office for six years and three years, respectively, before the voters threw them out for failing to deliver on any of their past campaign promises. William Nurko and John Pfefferkorn had their chance to attract good clean ratables, and they did not deliver. They bankrupted the open space program through outright mismanagement and by accepting thousands from outside special interests. They betrayed the public trust. Why would anyone believe they would be any different this time around?