MAYOR PALLONE GIVES CITY UPDATE

LONG BRANCH- On Tuesday, May 5th, Mayor John Pallone gave an update about initiatives the city is starting during the coronavirus pandemic.

“A lot is changing day by day with this pandemic. Right now, we are working on responding to all of our resident’s questions and concerns, while also looking to the future and what the other side of this pandemic will look like for the City of Long Branch,” Mayor Pallone stated. “It’s our main focus to be of help to our residents and also the businesses. We want to make the message clear that we are in this together.”

Mayor Pallone’s updates included the following:

• Under the Governor’s Executive Order No. 130, the city is extending the grace period for property taxes until June 1st.

Residents can mail in payments to 344 Broadway, Long Branch NJ 07740 or can pay online where the link can be found on LONGBRANCH.ORG.

• The Mayor’s office recently recorded the first “City Spotlight” which included an interview with Mayor Pallone and President and CEO of Monmouth Medical, Eric Carney. The goal of this City Spotlight, a video series intended to bring answers to residents during the coronavirus, was to see the status of Monmouth Medical and how they perceive the next steps in the pandemic to be. This video can be viewed on the official city Facebook page, YouTube, or the city website.

• The Mayor’s Office is working on receiving nominations for Hometown Heroes that are going above and beyond for others during this pandemic. Residents can submit a name, picture, and explanation of what the nominee has done for Long Branch to the email address LDEANGELIS@LONGBRANCH.ORG by May 7th.

• The Fairer Long Branch Program was passed at the last council meeting: Residents can apply for up to a five year $25,000 tax abatement. Small businesses can apply for up to a five year $100,000 tax abatement. Any resident whose home is more than 20 years old can apply for improvements and repairs on their dwellings. It applies to single family homes, duplexes, and condominiums.

• The City of Long Branch is actively seeking ways to help and supplement the local food pantries in the City with items that are hard to find and crisis boxes. A list of food pantries located in both Long Branch and Monmouth County can be found on the city website.

“We have reached out to the organizations that are helping to supply food to our residents. We understand that they need support now more than ever and we are looking to find ways to get the pantries more food,” Mayor Pallone stated.

For general information, residents can go to longbranch.org or call city hall 732-222-7000. For coronavirus updates, residents can go to longbranch.org/departments/health/coronavirus.