Middlesex County Democratic Freeholders

Freeholder Director Rafano has been on the county Freeholder Board since 1998. He is the chairman of the Administration and Finance Committee.

During his tenure, Freeholder Rafano has secured Homeland Security grants, improved efficiency at the Middlesex County Adult Correction Center through video visitations and arraignments and integrated county and municipal law enforcement agencies. In 2007, he was named to the New Jersey Teenage Driver Safety Study Commission. The commission issued a report in March which offered 47 recommendations for making teen driving safer.

Freeholder Rafano was a South River Borough Councilman from 1993 to 1998 and was council president in 1997. He has served as municipal prosecutor for Edison, Jamesburg, Woodbridge, South River and Piscataway. He is a partner at Rafano and Wood in South River.

Middlesex County receives excellent bond ratings

Citing Middlesex County’s historically strong financial profile and its large and diverse tax base, two of the nation’s leading bond rating agencies reaffirmed the county’s excellent bond rating.

Standard & Poor’s Rating Services assigned a Triple-A rating and Moody’s Investors Services a Double-A 1 rating. What the bond ratings says is that Middlesex County remains fiscally responsible despite the incredible challenges of the downturn in the national economy.

Excellent bond ratings like the ones assigned to Middlesex County mean the county can borrow money at low rates for things such as infrastructure improvements and construction, thereby saving taxpayer’s money on large projects.

In its rationale, Standard & Poor’s explained, “The rating reflects what we view as the county’s strong and diverse economic base, very strong income levels, historically strong financial profile and low overall debt burden.”

Both rating agencies confirmed their confidence in Middlesex County’s financial history and future. I applaud our Comptroller Al Kuchinskas and his team for their continued hard work in keeping our financial house in order. I also thank County Administrator John Pulomena, our department heads and staff for their continued dedication to provide quality programs and services at prices our taxpayers can afford.

Middlesex County, Old Bridge to spend $10.6M to preserve 58 acres as open space

Middlesex County and Old Bridge will spend $10.6 million to preserve 58 acres, including an apple orchard that represents the last remnants of a more than 200-year-old family farm.
The 36-acre orchard, the last parcel of the Cottrell family farm on Cottrell Road, will be purchased along with an adjacent 22-acre wooded area known as the Whitney Estates.

County freeholders, who are contributing $6.36 million to the purchase and hope to close the deal by the end of the year, are apparently benefiting from a depressed real estate market. The negotiated price is less than half the $25 million the developer was asking three years ago.
Cottrell family members began farming when New Jersey was still an English colony. Their farm once spread over 1,500 acres in Old Bridge.

One side line operation was the family’s production of a distilled Applejack, the forerunner of a product still on the market today, though no longer made in the township, according to local officials.

In 2002, Herbert Cottrell, the last of the family to run the farm, sold the last parcel to company planning to build stores and townhouses intended to anchor Old Bridge’s downtown development.

Although a developer received preliminary approvals for the project — including six commercial buildings, 129 apartment or condominiums, several small retail buildings and a three-story parking deck — plans bogged down, and by 2007, the company applied to the state to have the farm preserved.

"This project took Old Bridge in the wrong direction," Old Bridge Mayor James Phillips said. "This has been a long struggle for the township. I much prefer apples orchards to nail salons, apartments houses and pizza parlors," he said.

Old Bridge will also keep the 150-year-old Cottrell family farm house that still sits on the property, back from the bustling traffic along Route 516.
The apple orchards will be maintained and farmed, with residents one day possibly permitted to pick the fruit.
However the adjacent Whitney property will be a pristine preserve, a requirement of the NY/NJ Baykeeper, which contributed $200,000 to Old Bridge for the purchase.

"We have efforts to protect wetlands but we don’t have anything protecting woodlands," said Greg Remaud, deputy executive director of the NY/NJ Baykeeper.

Freeholders Thursday are expected to allot open space funds for the purchase. The county applied to the state, hoping to recoup as much as half the $6.36 million, said county Parks and Recreation Director Ralph Albanir, who oversees open space projects.

Old Bridge received $1.6 million in state Green Acres funds towards the purchase. The township will use $2.44 million from its own open space trust fund.

Last year the freeholders borrowed $40 million for open space preservation, hoping to benefit from the drop in real estate values.

This year, however, freeholders shaved one penny off the three-cent open space tax to reduce the budget. Freeholders insisted they will still cover all their costs for land preservation.

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