PRESS RELEASE

For Immediate Publication

SEPTEMBER 29, 2008

POC: James Grenafege
Middletown Democrat for Township Committee
(732) 872-0890
Email: j.grenafege@att.net

WALSH, GRENAFEGE CALL FOR TOWNSHIP BUDGETS CUTS

MIDDLETOWN TOWNSHIP (MONMOUTH COUNTY, NJ): According to Middletown Democrat for Township Committee Jim Grenafege, “My running mate and I called for budget reductions before the spending plan was passed. We are calling for them now and should not be ignored this time.”

“I believe it is incumbent upon elected officials to respond to the current economic crisis. Indeed, this crisis is impacting the residents of Middletown. In every household in our community, people are facing foreclosures and jobs have been lost,” Walsh said.

Grenafege is a retired human resources executive and holds a Master’s Degree in counseling from Montclair State University and a Bachelor’s Degree in Social and Behavioral Sciences from Johns Hopkins University. After 26 years as a corporate manager, Grenafege said his business experience has taught him that it is time to cut spending in Middletown Township. “It is absolutely time to do that right now,” he said.

“The township needs to do this right the first time out. The situation is dire and it is clearly time to address this before Middletown has to be bailed out by the state,” Grenafege said.

“Our residents are scared. Even as my running mate and I are walking the township, we found seven homes foreclosed on one street alone,” Walsh said. “Make no mistake about it, Middletown cannot continue to do business the way it has been done.”

Walsh said the community demands that the tax burden be lessened from them right now. “Ten to 15 percent reductions are an absolute necessity if we are to help our residents,” Walsh said.

“If the re-evaluation had gone through appropriately then the wealthier segment of the township would be bearing more of the burden,” Grenafege said. “As it is, Middletown is in dire straights and has to be fixed before there is more bleeding here. The township can be saved, and Pat Walsh, Patrick Short, Sean Byrnes and myself can do it.”