Action Center
Saturday October 25, 2008
Mayor has Challenger in bid for 4th Term
In two weeks, West Paterson voters will choose between electing Democratic Mayor Pat Lepore for a fourth three-year term or selecting Republican Steve Fazio, who has served on the Board of Education for the past 18 months.
Lepore is also serving his third term as a Passaic County freeholder. While new state statutes prohibit elected officials from holding more than one office, a grandfather clause allows Lepore to continue in both capacities.
Under Lepore’s administration, West Paterson has made a major investment in the borough’s parks and open space, expanded sewer lines and undertaken a 15-year road resurfacing project.
The mayor was the target of a short-lived recall effort initiated by angry members of the Passaic County Sheriff’s Department after the freeholder Budget Committee ordered $20.6 million in spending cuts to six county agencies in the 2008 budget.
Fazio, a chemist at Novartis and lifelong West Paterson resident, said he decided to run for mayor to bring a “bipartisan representation” to the Borough Council. However, Fazio was reluctant to give up his position on the school board, he said, but decided to run after being approached by people in both parties.
“People just wanted a change,” Fazio said.
Fazio and his wife have two grown sons. Fazio coaches Special Olympics basketball and serves on the board of the ARC of Bergen and Passaic counties, an organization dedicated to people with developmental disabilities. He also belongs to Holy Angels Church.
Lepore, 57, is married and has a son, who recently completed his second tour of duty in Iraq. Before getting involved in politics, Lepore worked as a sales representative for the Entenmann’s Division of George Weston Bakeries.
When asked how he would balance his full-time job in East Hanover with the responsibilities facing the mayor, Fazio said he was planning to set aside 12 vacation days to devote to the administration of the borough, and that he would hold regular office hours as Lepore has done.
In talking to voters, the candidates say some of the community issues that have come up are taxes, parks, and recreation and road improvements.
At $13 million, West Paterson’s budget is slightly smaller than those of the surrounding towns of Little Falls and Totowa, Lepore pointed out. West Paterson has more than 11,000 residents, while Totowa’s population is about 10,600, but Totowa’s budget is nearly $15 million. Lepore said the difference is due to prudent budgeting by the West Paterson Council.
The mayor will continue to “hold the line” on property taxes, he said. Lepore said he is proud that the town has had one of the lowest tax increases in the area in the years he’s been in office.
“I’ve been successful in getting a lot of grants that pay for a lot of things that taxpayers would have to pay for,” he said, including millions of dollars in open space money for projects like the development of Dowling Gardens. He also negotiated with the developers of the Four Seasons at Great Notch development to provide a second water tank and wastewater facility, so that the increase in population would not put a strain on the infrastructure or on taxpayers.
Meanwhile, Fazio said he would carefully scrutinize the borough budget to keep taxes down. He makes a lot of analogies to what works in industry, saying businesses have to make tough economic decisions about spending and look at each item individually.
“The municipality is a business,” he said. “You have to look at each line item and prioritize it.”
Fazio also raised concerns about a few specific intersections and blocks where speeding traffic is a problem, and said he would look for solutions, like installing speed bumps and additional patrol cars where there are recurring motor vehicle incidents.
Lepore stressed the 15-year resurfacing program the borough has initiated and ongoing work to improve the area’s infrastructure.
For Lepore, recreation will continue to be a priority. The borough was just granted $95,000 by the county for improvements to Frank Zaccaria Park, the latest in a series of parks projects. The mayor also supports more programming for seniors, he said, and the borough has started to offer senior exercise classes.
Fazio said he gives Lepore a lot of credit for preserving open space, but that some issues have been neglected as parks were developed.
Fazio said he would continue the improvements that have already been planned and also would like to see more after-school programs for local youth.
Reach Heather Appel at 973-569-7113 or appelh@northjersey.com.
Reprinted with permission. (c)2008 Herald News (Passaic Co., NJ) Heather Appel.
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