UPDATE: Montvale Mayor Ghassali will Run for Congress in 2020

Mayor Michael Ghassali. He’s the only candidate for Montvale mayor in 2019. But Is he running for United States Congress in 2020? | File photo by Murray Bass.

UPDATE (June 5, 2019): Montvale Mayor Mike Ghassali announced he will seek the 2020 Republican nomination for United States Congress in New Jersey’s Fifth District. 

The announcement came on the same day he secured the Republican nomination for mayor in the 2019 Montvale municipal election. 

“I am writing this to you to assure you that my priority will continue be the office of the Mayor of Montvale and the residents of Montvale, and to continue to do what I have been doing for the last three and a half years. I will be as accessible and as available as always,” said Ghassali. 

U.S. Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ5) is expected to seek reelection to his third term. 

Gottheimer, a leader of the so-called bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus, serves on the House Financial Services Committee where he works on three Subcommittees: National Security, International Development, and Monetary Policy Subcommittee, the Capital Markets, Securities, and Investments Subcommittee, and the Diversity and Inclusion Subcommittee. 

Gottheimer, a two-term congressman from Wyckoff, defeated Republican John McCann, of Oakland, 53 percent to 45 percent in November 2018.

Ghassali, was already slammed as “Tax Hike Mike” by a Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, and he shot back saying the DCCC stand for “Distorting Clear, Concise and Compelling” facts. 

He claimed the national race will not impact his role as mayor, even as he campaigns unopposed for another term leading the borough’s government. 

“I will continue to function as I have in the past and nothing will change; will have the usual town hall meetings, open office hours on the first Tuesday of every month, and you can email and call me at anytime,” Ghassali wrote. “On average I get about 10 calls, messages and emails a day that require follow ups, and I usually respond on the same day and even same hour at times. This will not change, and this is my promise.”

ORIGINAL STORY CONTINUES BELOW

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Montvale Mayor Ghassali to Decide Congress Run in June

MONTVALE, N.J.—Following the June 4 primary, Montvale’s Republican Mayor Michael Ghassali will decide whether he will challenge Democratic Congressman Josh Gottheimer in the 2020 election to represent the 5th Congressional District.

Gottheimer, a two-term congressman from Wyckoff, defeated Republican John McCann, of Oakland, 53 percent to 45 percent in November 2018.

“I’m exploring and trying to see how to make this work with my family and professional life,” said Ghassali May 1 to Pascack Press. “Right after the primary in June I’m going to make a decision one way or another.”

Ghassali is running unchallenged in the primary for another  four-year term.

In a recent online exchange, Ghassali was attacked as “Tax Hike Mike” by a press release from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and Ghassali responded by criticizing their accuracy, opining the DCCC stands for “Distorting Clear, Concise, & Compelling” facts.

Local tax decrease

“The fact is that Montvale is having a municipal tax decrease or two years in a row, and is on track for more great years of flat or even more tax reduction,” Ghassali retorted to the DCCC post. 

Ghassali said it was likely the DCCC “amateur smear tactics” were related to rumors of him entering the 2020 congressional race.

“Once I commit I’m going all in,” said the mayor talking about his upcoming decision. Ghassali said potential campaign donors and volunteers have already offered to assist his 2020 campaign should he decide to enter. 

Ghassali, a Syrian American, expressed hope that his heritage and knowledge of international issues “can make a difference between countries” long divided over religious and ethnic fighting should he be elected.

In helping to develop a 2019 municipal budget that decreases the municipal tax levy by $4.25 on an average $522,293 Montvale home, Ghassali said municipal taxes have been lowered by a growing local tax base, with new developments adding $200 million in ratables, or about $4.5 million in annual tax revenues.

‘Make a difference’

“I think I can make a difference,” in Congress, said Ghassali, noting Gottheimer appeared vulnerable. “It’s almost a risk to stand by and be a spectator,” he added. 

He pointed out that while Montvale collects taxes from new developments, other towns are fighting development by spending hundreds of thousands—and in one case nearly a million dollars, on legal fees fighting developers.

Montvale’s affordable housing settlement allowed 615 new housing units to be built, including 106 low- and moderate-income affordable units. 

The January 2018 settlement provided for 350 residential units planned on three former Mercedes-Benz lots totaling 37 acres, with 53 affordable units for sale or rent; 80 townhouse-style homes on a 13-acre former A&P site on Paragon Drive with 16 affordable units; and 185 apartments over a parking deck planned for the seven-acre former Sony property, with 20 percent affordable units.

Since 2015 when Montvale filed a declaratory judgment in Superior Court to begin negotiations to satisfy its affordable housing obligations, the borough’s road to a settlement has been fitful: twice in 2017 the council turned down agreements. 

It rejected an agreement in June with S. Hekemian for a “mixed use” development for 300 units on the former Mercedes-Benz site and a deal with Hornrock for 160 units of housing on the former Sony property. 

After settling its affordable housing obligations Nov. 14, 2017, Ghassali said it was the correct decision.

“We had to minimize our exposure” to potential builder’s remedy lawsuits, said Ghassali then. “No one wants to change our town [but] the options we had are limited,” he added.

Another issue that has split residents is being explored by Montvale—and neighbor Woodcliff Lake—to save taxpayer dollars by withdrawal from the Pascack Valley Regional High School District.  

A resolution last summer authorized a study of costs, liabilities, risks and benefits of such a withdrawal and notes the study “would not obligate the Borough of Montvale to take any further steps towards a withdrawal.”

The regional district’s Hillsdale and River Vale families are served by Pascack Valley High School; Montvale and Woodcliff Lake families are served by Pascack Hills High School.

Previously both Montvale  and Woodcliff Lake made efforts to change the regional school funding formula from one based on equalized property values to one based on the number of students registered, known as a “send and receive” relationship.

Recent budget estimates put Montvale’s 2019 regional district tab at $14 million, up $1.2 million since 2016. 

But, according to Ghassali, 2019’s budget—including costs for Pascack’s regional high school district—is a precursor of  better budget years to come.

“The budget for this year looks great with zero municipal tax increase, even with spending 

$1.4 million on roads, $5.4 million in surplus, AAA bond rating,” he wrote.

“The good news is that we are expecting additional revenue in the next several years to keep taxes flat and may even be able to lower the rate,” writes Ghassali in Montvale’s May online newsletter. 

The 5th Congressional District straddles the northern part of the state, with approximately 28 percent of the district in Sussex and Warren counties. The district also includes northern Bergen and Passaic counties.