Carmen F. Amato Jr. Plans on Making Changes If Elected Mayor

Like his opponent, Republican Township Councilman got involved in politics at a very young age.

And like , Amato's introduction to public service, almost ironically, came at the hands of the late Democratic

"Bill Zimmermann was my neighbor," Amato recalled with a smile during a recent interview at his campaign headquarters in Bayville. "He lived around the corner from me. One day there was a knock on the door. 'How old are you? What are you doing? Want to get involved?' He gave me a stack of cards and a list and the rest is history."

Amato, now 43, didn't continue helping Zimmermann for long. Berkeley had been non-partisan when Amato first became involved in politics. He declared himself a Republican when the township switched to a partisan form of the Faulkner Act.

Amato has lived in Berkeley since his parents moved to Bayville back in 1970.

"My parents came here to make a better life for their two young boys," he said. " was very good to me.

Amato, his wife and young son C.J. still live in the three-bedroom, one bath home he grew up in.

A life of public service

In 1993 he was elected to the to serve a one-year unexpired term. He later went on to win two full terms on the school board. He won a seat on the in 2000 and served five and a half years, before he stepped down after his election to the Township Council in 2005. He is currently serving his second term on the council.

"Community service was always what I wanted to do," he said

Amato is running for mayor, along with a slate of GOP Township Council candidates that includes Robert Ray, John Bacchione and Thomas Grosse.

"I'm not running against Jason Varano, I'm running for my community," Amato said. "This has been my home town for 41 years. I really want to make my town better and in the last 12 years it really hasn't gotten better."

That said, there is plenty he disagrees with when it comes to the Varano administration.

Changes on the way

For starters, if elected Amato says he will allow council members to speak directly with department heads. Currently council members cannot communicate directly with department heads and must go through administration, which means either Township Administrator Leonard Roeber or Varano.

"I will make sure all council members can talk to department heads," Amato said. "That's an administrative prerogative."

Amato also says he will be a more "hands-on" mayor than Varano, who is seeking his fourth full term.

"Ultimately, the buck stop with the mayor," Amato said. "I'm going to be held accountable. I'm going to put the hours in."

The Amato team's campaign literature also promises to "streamline" township operations without staff cuts.

"We need to get more police on the street," he said. "We need to require public works to be more effective. We should consider robo trucks for recycling. We think that could be more effective. You only need one driver."

Amato said he will also push for an independent forensic audit of township finances, to go over operations and departments "line item by line item."

"What we need to run government is all we should be asking from our taxpayers," he said. "We shouldn't collect one additional dollar."

Taxes, taxes, taxes

One of the Amato team's key points is the 146 percent rise in the amount to be raised by taxation from 1999 to 2010. In 1999, the amount to be raised by taxation was $10,295,433. By 2010, the amount to be raised by taxation was introduced at $29,011,464.

But Amato and other Township Council members cut some line items, found some untapped revenue and adopted two budget amendments, resulting in a final number of $27,965,401 in the amount to be raised by taxation, he said.

Amato - who serves on the council's Route 9 revitalization committee - sees the and redevelopment plan as key to revitalizing the Route 9 corridor and bringing in much-needed business ratables. He pledged to do as much as he can to attract new businesses to all sections of the township, not just the areas targeted for redevelopment.

"The majority of the taxes to run the government come from residential taxpayers," he said. "We need to shift the burden. Berkeley Township is a very blue-collar town. It has a lot of people out there who are hurting."

Amato has also questioned the reliability of the 2010 revaluation. Property assessments in some areas of the township, especially waterfront areas, jumped dramatically in Berkeley's first revaluation in over 20 years.

He supported hiring several outside consultants to review the revaluation, done by , despite Varano's claim that the costs for the consultants was money wasted.

Amato also objects to Varano's statements that more than 3,500 acres of land have been preserved under his administration.

"The plain truth of the matter is thanks to Ocean County's Natural Lands Trust, nearly 2,000 acres of open space has been preserved in Ocean County," he said Thursday. "Over the years the Township Council has nominated properties through solution to the OCNLT Committee."

Amato is the director of the county's Printing and Graphics department. In addition to serving on the Township Council, he is also a commissioner on the . The Varano team has accused him of holding too many public jobs.

Amato has also been criticized for his wife receiving a part-time job with the Berkeley Township school district earlier this year, at a time when teachers were being laid off. Amato has said the job was a Civil Service position. But Varano claims the job was "newly-created" for her.

Berkeley Patch will run campaign previews of Republican Township Council candidate John Bacchione and Thomas Grosse and Democratic candidates James L. Egan and Anthony R. Mazzella over the next few days.