BOE Candidate Profile: Zig Panek

On Wednesday the Board of Education Elections will be held throughout the state of New Jersey, including here in Howell. Six candidates are running for three available seats on the board, with only two incumbents looking to hold onto their seats. This is the fifth article in a series of profiles Howell Patch is doing on the candidates.

• Candidate Name: Zig Panek
• Address: 191 Asbury Road, Farmingdale
• Occupation: Retired Monmouth County Park Manager and former Assistant Superintendent of the Monmouth County Shade Tree Commission, small business owner

As a resident of Howell Township, Zig Panek has seen his two children go through the Howell Township school system while also working in the county parks department. Now Panek is one of six candidates running for three seats on the board of education in Wednesday's election.

Currently, Panek owns his own small business in town, which he said makes him, "acutely aware of our present economic situation." In a quarter century in the town, Panek said he has seen a lot during that time, including recent tough times for the residents of Howell.

"As a long-time resident of Howell Township, I have witnessed the growth and changes of our community," he said. "I have seen our taxes dramatically increase over the years and most recently, at a time when we are all struggling to meet financial demands imposed by our current economic downturn, the worst we have seen since the Great Depression."

With the economy not making life easy for many people, Panek said that presents extra challenges for the board.

"Our dilemma now is, how do we maintain the quality of education our children enjoy and deserve while at the same time holding the line on taxes?" he said. "And, beyond that, how can we begin to turn the tide around on increasing taxes to achieving tax redunctions?"

While those important questions will have to be answered, Panek said he knows there will not be easy solutions.

"Decisive steps need to be taken to preserve our school system for all of our students. However, raising property taxes is not the answer, though it has been what previous school boards and administrations have relied upon as a stop gap means of plugging holes in a failing budget philosophy." 

With election day nearing, Panek said he would like to help the district move forward into the future.

"Howell students and taxpayers deserve a fresh approach to fiscal management of the school system, an approach that puts the interests of students and taxpayers first, as equal stakeholders in our community," he said. "Only such an approach can bring us back from the brink of economic disaster that the former way of doing business has brought us to."

Voting will be held on Wednesday at polling places 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.