BOE Candidate Profile: Gene Tanala

When the school board elections are held around the state, three seats will be up for grabs  in Howell with only two incumbents looking to hold onto their seats. This is the sixth article in a series of profiles Howell Patch is doing on the candidates.

• Candidate Name: Gene Tanala
• Address: 7 Rita Drive
• Occupation: Teacher in Jersey City

This year Gene Tanala spent his time on the Howell Township Public Schools as the Vice President of the board and was also the chairman of the Finance Committee. Now, as he prepares to retire from teaching, Tanala said he is hopeful to continue to serve the board if elected to another term.

Tanala said he enjoyed chairing the finance committee and learning about the inner workings of putting together a school budget. After what had been a difficult budget season last year, Tanala said he was glad his committee was able to work together with other members of the district to put together a budget with a flat tax levy. 

Not only that, but he said he was proud of what they were able to do with the budget. That includes eliminating the pay for play structure with middle school athletics and co-curricular activities, purchasing new school vehicles and not adding any debt to the district's books in the process. 

It is his work with the finance committee that Tanala said has inspired him to run for another term on the board.

"The only reason I'm running is I think we have a good budget, and I'm enjoying finance and trying to reform how the committee works," he said. 

While this year was a good start, Tanala said he would like to see more work done in the future to help ease the burden on the residents of Howell.

"I want to concentrate on finances, trying to get tax relief for taxpayers," he said. "I think we have a few things in place where we can continue to lower the tax rate. We also have to keep all the services in tact."

The only other incumbent running for a seat in the elections this year is Sherry Roses. They are running against Stephen M. Levine, Al Miller, Zig Panek and John Van Noy

Voting will be held on Wednesday at polling places all across the district.

Editor's note: Like many news outlets, Patch is not enabling commenting on election-related stories as voting day approaches to avoid anonymous last-minute attacks.