The winner of The NBC 40 Spooky Pet Costume Contest will receive a $500 gift certificate for services from A3.
The lucky winner will also receive a gift basket provided by the Animal House in Ocean City.
The winner is
Democrat Jean Gallagher
Republican Chris Silva
— The two candidates running for one open seat on the Mullica Township Committee both say raising revenue without overly burdening taxpayers is the main challenge facing local government.
They also both have experience with budgeting and finances, they said.
Republican
Chris Silva, 61, a retired Little Egg Harbor Township police captain
and now owner of a company that designs and installs communications
equipment for airports and industrial entities, said he would focus on
bringing commercial ratables to the township.
“The
main challenge right now is obtaining more outside sources of funding,
like grants ... and trying to attract clean commercials into the town,”
Silva said. “We need to have a commercial base to help offset rising
costs of health insurance, salaries, and everything.”
He said he would rather bring in some commercial ratables, rather than housing that would add children to the school district.
“I
don’t see any big benefit in getting a greater population. It defeats
the purpose (by costing more to educate more children) and the reason
people are attracted to this area,” Silva said of the rural nature of
the town.
Democrat
Jean Gallagher, 49, is a first-grade teacher at Mullica Elementary
School. She is a former CPA who previously worked as an Atlantic City
casino controller and internal audit director, and said she would focus
on the budget process.
“I
would be very analytical and conservative in budgeting,” she said. “We
really need to be cognizant about not putting additional burdens on
taxpayers.”
She
said she would need to study further the idea of bringing commercial
ratables in, particularly if a small packet sewer plant would need to be
built to service businesses on the White Horse Pike.
“You
always have to balance the growth with the demands you are going to put
on community services,” Gallagher said, “and whether there are any
hidden costs for us as residents.”
Silva,
who is not related to Mullica Township Police Officer Chris Silva, said
he would support such a plant in order to bring some business to the
township.
A
widower, Silva has two adult children and two grandchildren who attend
Mullica schools. He has lived in Mullica about 10 years, he said.
He
retired from the police force in Little Egg Harbor in 2003, after
settling 4-year legal dispute with the township over disciplinary
charges that an administrative law judge called politically motivated.
Terms were not disclosed.
Gallagher,
who is married to Andrew Schlee, has two daughters, one in eighth grade
in Mullica and one a senior at Cedar Creek High School in Egg Harbor
City. She has lived in the township 21 years, she said.
Contact Michelle Brunetti Post:
609-272-7219
