(Marlboro, NJ, Feb. 19 ) Monmouth County Commissioner Thomas Arnone’s recent 2025 state of the county speech demonstrates how far the county Republican have strayed from Republican values and provides more reason for a change of GOP leadership in the county, said Marlboro Republican Party Municipal Chairman Renzo Kolenovic, a critic of Arnone and the Monmouth County Republican Chairman Shaun Golden.
“Mr. Arnone’s speech (delivered last week) on the state of the county failed to mention anything about cutting spending, reducing taxes or why the county is pressing its eminent domain claim against the owner of the Monmouth executive airport in Wall Township,” said Kolenovic.

Instead, said Kolenovic, “Arnone proudly spoke about expanding county government, creating more patronage jobs and increasing salaries for county employees.”

Kolenovic said he was astonished when Arnone boasted that since he and Sheriff Golden were elected in 2011, there has never been a freeze on the e salaries of county employees and that there will not be.

“Mr. Arnone’s comments are insensitive and insulting to the hard-working taxpayers of Monmouth County who don’t work for county government,” said Kolenovic. “Like President Trump, Mr. Arnone should be cutting spending.”

The dissident Marlboro GOP chair pointed out that in the last 14 years county residents have been forced to deal with layoffs in the private sector, business losses during Covid and runaway inflation caused by the Biden Administration. ‘The people who are struggling to make ends meet did not receive guaranteed salary increase, but Commissioner Arnone must think it is newsworthy to note that he is more concerned about pay hikes for county employees than he is about the taxpayers who support those increases.

Kolenovic noted that since 2019 the county tax levy has increased by more than $39 million, facilitating the growth of county government.

“Commissioner Arnone’s speech reflected the administration’s goal to build a bigger and more expensive county government so it can hire more people and use taxpayer money to buy their votes.,” said Kolenovic.
“The county commissioners are more interested in empire building than they are in operating a lean government that keeps costs down for taxpayers. Commissioner Arnone should take a page form President’s Trump’s playbook and start looking for ways to cut government, not expand it,” said Kolenovic.

NO MENTION OF AIRPORT TAKING

The Marlboro Republican also pointed out that Arnone failed to address the biggest issue of the past year – the county’s use of eminent domain to take the Monmouth Executive Airport. Kolenovic has been a critic of the county’s attempts to condemn the privately run airport, saying the commissioners’ actions do not reflect real Republican values and will damage the GOP in the county elections this year.
“The county spent hundreds of thousands of dollars trying to take away a man’s business – and never told county residents why the commissioners need an airport,” said Kolenovic. “The airport condemnation was a major issue in 2024 and it still is; yet Commissioner Arnone failed to mention the airport. Why? Is he afraid to draw attention to the county’s abuse of property rights? Or is he afraid to admit the county make a big mistake?”

“Commissioner Arnone graphically demonstrated why there needs to be a change in Republican leadership in Monmouth County,“ added Kolenovic.