RED BANK: TAX INCREASE HELD TO ONE PERCENT

May 5, 2023

Parking revenue has been strong since the pandemic and an increase in enforcement hours, officials said. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

Local taxes on the typical Red Bank home will increase by one percent this year, officials said at a walk-thru of the 2023 municipal budget Thursday night.

That’s about $25 for the owner of a home assessed at the new townwide average of $505,244, Chief Financial Officer Thomas Seaman said at the one-hour forum, held in the council chamber at borough hall.

May 5, 2023 - 3:45 am |

RED BANK: BUDGET WALK-THRU SLATED

May 4, 2023

Red Bank officials are scheduled to hold an informal walk-thru of the 2023 municipal budget Thursday night.

The $25.911 million spending plan calls for $14.47 million to be raised by taxes, Chief Financial Officer Thomas Seaman told the borough council last week.

May 4, 2023 - 8:20 am |

RED BANK: HOGAN, PORTMAN SPLIT ON ‘DEBATE’

Apr 17, 2023

Mayoral candidates Tim Hogan, left and Billy Portman, right, at last week’s dedication ceremony at the Senior Center. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

Red Bank’s two mayoral candidates disagreed Monday on whether one of them has “refused” a call for a one-on-one debate.

April 17, 2023 - 12:30 pm |

RED BANK: FIREFIGHTERS PRESS FOR RENT HIKE

Apr 13, 2023

Volunteer firefighters heading into borough hall for Wednesday night’s council session. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

Red Bank’s volunteer firefighters derailed the planned introduction of a borough budget they said would scuttle a negotiated funding plan for their firehouses Wednesday night.

April 13, 2023 - 8:55 am |

RED BANK: POT, BUDGET & MORE ON AGENDA

Apr 11, 2023

Responding to public pressure, the council plans to create a four-way stop at the intersection of Leighton Avenue and Drs. James Parker Boulevard. (Google Maps image. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

On the Red Bank mayor and council’s agenda for Wednesday night: new hurdles for licensing of cannabis businesses; the 2023 budget; a new four-way traffic intersection and more.

April 11, 2023 - 8:09 am |

RED BANK: CANDIDATES JOSTLE FOR POSITION

Apr 5, 2023

All council candidates participated in the League of Women Voters’s online event. (Photo from Zoom. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

Thirteen candidates for Red Bank council sought to make an impression on voters during a fast-paced candidates showdown Monday night.

The occasion was an online event hosted by the hosted by the League of Women Voters of Monmouth County, the first of two planned showdowns ahead of an historic election May 9.

April 5, 2023 - 8:35 am |

RED BANK: PORTMAN CITES HOGAN ‘CONFLICT’

Apr 4, 2023

Mayoral candidates Billy Portman, upper right, and Tim Hogan, lower left, with league volunteers during the forum. (Photo from Zoom. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

Red Bank mayoral candidate Tim Hogan‘s job as president of Riverview Medical Center would present a “massive conflict of interest” if he wins, incumbent Billy Portman said Monday night.

The two jostled for position at the first candidate showdown leading to an historic May 9 election.

April 4, 2023 - 8:56 am |

RED BANK: VOTERS TO GET FIRST LOOK VIA ZOOM

Apr 3, 2023

By JOHN T. WARD

Up to 15 candidates for Red Bank office may appear together at an online forum Monday night.

The League of Women Voters of Monmouth County event will offer borough voters the first opportunity to compare the two mayoral contenders and 13 candidates for six council seats in the historic May 9 election.

April 3, 2023 - 6:45 am |

RED BANK: MAYORAL CONTENDERS UP FOR ‘FACEOFF’

Mar 29, 2023

Mayoral candidates Billy Portman, left, and Tim Hogan. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

Incumbent mayor Billy Portman and challenger Tim Hogan have agreed to participate in redbankgreen’s “Faceoff Over Red Bank’s Future” next month.

So far, nine of the 13 candidates for council also have agreed to answer questions at the event.

March 29, 2023 - 7:30 am |

RED BANK: CANDIDATE FACEOFF SET

Mar 22, 2023

With a high-stakes election nearing, Red Bank voters will have a chance to see and hear from up to 15 candidates for municipal office at a future-oriented redbankgreen forum next month.

The League of Women Voters of Monmouth County is also doing a thing.

March 22, 2023 - 11:30 am |

RED BANK: BASIE ADDS TO FOOTPRINT

Mar 15, 2023

The Basie acquired this onetime residence in the professional office zone. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

Less than two years after completing a $25 million expansion, the Count Basie Center for the Arts has added to its Red Bank real estate holdings.

But the nonprofit theater has no plans to seek an exemption from property taxes on the newly acquired site, a spokesman told redbankgreen.

March 15, 2023 - 7:30 am |

RED BANK: GOP ATTACKS AT RACE’S END

Nov 7, 2022

The council candidates, clockwise from top center, are Mark Taylor, John Jackson, Jonathan Maciel Penney and Angela Mirandi. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

See UPDATE below

By JOHN T. WARD

Republicans went on the offensive in the closing days of the race for two seats on the Red Bank council, to be decided in Tuesday’s election.

GOP mailings included some unexpected characterizations: that their opponents are “MAGA” Democrats who “participated in a Trump-like scheme to overturn” the results of the Democratic primary in June.

November 7, 2022 - 7:35 am |

RED BANK: ‘CIVILITY’ ON VOTERS’ MINDS

Oct 20, 2022

The event was held in a room at Triumph Brewing Company restaurant. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

Civility was top-of-mind for some of the 65 or so Red Bank voters who packed a room for the first of two candidates’ nights held Wednesday.

Following a late change of heart by two candidates, all four contenders for council seats, as well as the lone candidate for mayor in the November 8 election, were present.

October 20, 2022 - 7:59 am |

RED BANK: CANDIDATE FACE-OFFS SET

Oct 17, 2022

By JOHN T. WARD

Red Bank voters will get two chances – or one and a half – this week to size up the candidates in the November 8 municipal elections.

Only one will be in-person. And neither will feature all five candidates.

October 17, 2022 - 7:52 am |

RED BANK: DEMS TO SKIP ONE OF TWO FORUMS

Oct 5, 2022

Democratic council candidates John Jackson and Angela Mirandi at National Night Out in August. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

Red Bank’s two Democratic council candidates have decided to skip the traditional West Side Community Group forum scheduled for this month.

Instead, John Jackson and incumbent Angela Mirandi are expected to participate only in a virtual League of Women Voters’ event the same week, a choice their Republican opponents criticized Tuesday.

October 5, 2022 - 6:30 am |

RED BANK: BUDGET & TAX ON AGENDA

Jun 22, 2022

A chart used in a budget presentation last week shows a tax increase of just $5.03 for the year for the owner of a home assessed at the borough average of $469,876. (Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

The owner of a typical Red Bank home would pay just $5 more in local property taxes under the 2022 budget up for adoption Wednesday night, according to Councilwoman Angela Mirandi.

On the flip side, the average residential valuation on which the tax will be applied is up 16 percent in the past year, said Mirandi, who heads the council’s finance committee.

June 22, 2022 - 7:42 am |

RED BANK: BUDGET INTRO ON AGENDA

May 25, 2022

The mayor and council meet at borough hall for their first in-person session in 26 months Wednesday night. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

A budget for 2022 is on the agenda when the Red Bank mayor and council hold their first in-person meeting since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic Wednesday night.

The session is also the first to simultaneously employ technology allowing participation from home.

May 25, 2022 - 7:55 am |

RED BANK: DISTRICT TAX UP TWO PERCENT

Apr 27, 2022

The budget includes funding for a counselor to help stressed students, Rumage said. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

Federal and state grants to offset pandemic-related expenses helped keep the Red Bank school district tax increase at two percent for the second year in a row, Superintendent Jared Rumage said Tuesday night.

April 27, 2022 - 7:35 am |

RED BANK: SAXUM CHANGES APPROVED

Apr 5, 2022

Architect Adrian Melji with a rendering of the revised project’s Bodman Place side looking northwest from Riverside Avenue. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

Filling in a horseshoe void, Saxum Real Estate won planning board approval Monday night for changes to a massive apartment project in Red Bank.

April 5, 2022 - 7:57 am |

RED BANK: SAXUM SEEKS MORE BEDROOMS

Apr 1, 2022

Saxum’s project would be built on the vacant former Visiting Nurse Association headquarter site at 176 Riverside Avenue. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

Two years after obtaining approval for a massive residential real estate project in Red Bank, Saxum Real Estate is heading back to the borough planning board in search of a booster.

April 1, 2022 - 11:16 am |

RED BANK: DEMS TO SHARE ‘COUNTY LINE’

Apr 1, 2022

Councilmen Ed Zipprich and Michael Ballard at last year’s September 11 memorial ceremony. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

In the rare Democratic primary race shaping up in Red Bank for June 7, all candidates from two opposing factions will share the coveted “party line,” redbankgreen has learned.

Monmouth County Democratic Chairman David G. Brown II has rejected a demand by borough party Chairman Ed Zipprich that only incumbents from the 18-member committee that runs the party be given the preferred ballot position.

April 1, 2022 - 7:55 am |

RED BANK: ‘FED UP’ SLATE AIMS FOR OVERHAUL

Mar 31, 2022

Among the slate’s members are, clockwise from top left: Wilson Beebe, Suellen Sims, Kate Triggiano, Nancy Facey-Blackwood, Ben Forest, Kathy Horgan, Boris Kofman and Frank Corrado. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

Eighteen “fed up” Democratic party loyalists plan to take on what they call Red Bank’s “exclusionary party machine” in the June primary elections, they said in an announcement early Thursday.

Their goals, they said, are to “bring transparency and end divisiveness” within the organization – and unseat Ed Zipprich as chairman.

March 31, 2022 - 7:50 am |

RED BANK: CENTER FIXES OK’D, RE-ARGUED

Feb 24, 2022

Angela Mirandi, in second pane from left in the top row, attended her first session as a council member. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

See CORRECTION below

By JOHN T. WARD

Three years after a fire suppression system leak forced a shutdown of Red Bank’s Senior Center, the borough council approved nearly $2 million in financing for repairs Wednesday.

As in the past, members clashed over the reasons for the time elapsed and cost. Added to the acrimony was a new element: blame for failure to identify money recently found sitting idle in old accounts and now earmarked for repairs.

Unmentioned during the virtual meeting was a lawsuit, announced hours earlier, that seeks to remove Angela Mirandi, who attended for the first time as a council member.

February 24, 2022 - 2:45 pm |

RED BANK: ‘BOAT RAMP’ TO FUND CENTER FIX

Feb 22, 2022

A municipal boat ramp on the Navesink River was once envisioned for the north end of Maple Avenue, now a nature area called Maple Cove. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

Red Bank officials boasted earlier this month that they’d “cobbled together” about $1 million from idle accounts to soften the impact on taxpayers of repairing the long-shuttered Senior Center.

It turns out a big chunk of that sum has been stuck in the borough’s sofa cushions for 30 years, designated for a never-built boat ramp, redbankgreen has learned.

February 22, 2022 - 7:30 am |

RED BANK: CHARTER SCHOOL WINS EXTENSION

Feb 2, 2022

The school’s campus includes buildings on Oakland Street, above, and Monmouth Street. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

See UPDATE below

By JOHN T. WARD

The Red Bank Charter School has won state authorization to operate for another five years, Head of School Kristen Martello announced Wednesday.

The widely expected extension was granted by the New Jersey Department of Education over the objection of borough school district’s board, which was joined by the town council in its request that the school be closed.

February 2, 2022 - 11:20 am |

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