Growing up in Marlboro Township, Jonathan Hornik closely identified with his tight-knit community, formed by an Act of the New Jersey Legislature on February 17, 1848.

“For me, Marlboro has always been home,” noted Hornik, the township’s current mayor. “There is simply no better place to live and work and raise a family.”

A product of the county’s school and recreation systems, Hornik attended Marlboro High School and graduated from the University of Delaware before studying at Brooklyn Law School. He practiced law professionally at several large firms in Manhattan for 12 years before launching his own firm in 2009. It was love of his hometown, however, that caused Hornik to make his home again in Marlboro after college, law school, and a short residency in Hoboken. His father, Saul Hornik, served as mayor of the township from 1980 to 1992, so public service was in his blood.

“When we moved back so that we could raise our family, I was surprised to see that the same people who were involved in local government when I left were still running the show,” Hornik said. “Marlboro is one of those towns that has grown dramatically yet still maintained a median age residency of 38-years-old. It simply didn’t make sense to me and many others who were so vested in the town to not get involved.”

So, in 2005, after years of being disillusioned by both Democratic and Republican politics, Hornik and a few others formed a new party, dubbing it “The Reformed Democratic Party of Marlboro.”

“What we formed could have been called the Reformed Anything Party,” Hornik said. “It’s not about being a Democrat or Republican; it’s all about doing what’s right on the local level. Local issues need local solutions, not national ideals, so we formed this party and ran three strong candidates, but ended up losing.”

Despite the setback, Hornik was asked by the party to run for mayor in 2007, and at a time when the U.S. economy was on the brink of disaster and cities and municipalities everywhere were struggling, he took office.

“I was elected when GE was near bank- rupt, Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers went out of business, GM was buckling, and people were nervous that it was the end of the world,” Hornik recalled. “We needed to make dramatic changes to the way local government was run…and we were forced very quickly to perform. We had to act not only as concerned citizens but as businesspeople…had to think outside the box and do what made sense.”

Together with staff and council members, Hornik shrunk the size of Marlboro’s government. They made dramatic budget cuts but still managed to start a number of initiatives that made his hometown a better place.

“We focused on bringing quality rateables like Whole Foods and Costco into town to expand the tax base,” Hornik said. “When we took over, there was no such thing as the Economic Development Committee and the theory was you couldn’t create jobs on the local level. But I couldn’t disagree more; economic stimulation like that starts from the bottom up. If you put business in an environment where they have to hire local people, then you’ve created jobs for your local community.”

Hornik and his council launched other innovative programs as well, such as Shop Marlboro.

“It’s a shop local tax reward initiative that has been hugely successful,” he explained. “Residents carry a sort of debit card in their wallets, and every time they shop at a participating business, a portion of the purchase goes directly to reduce their personal property taxes. So if you spend $100 at a local restaurant which is participating at a ten percent rate, you pay the restaurant and they send $10 to the town to be credited directly to your taxes. We’re the first city in the country to implement a program like this. By shopping locally, you reduce your own property tax burden and boost the town’s economy at the same time. Since we’ve implemented the program, we’ve made Marlboro more business friendly and helped residents save. Personally, I’ve saved approximately $600 this quarter by shopping locally.”

Shop Marlboro was just one of the innovative ideas that Hornik and com- pany have crafted.

“The initiatives we’ve implemented came from a group of smart, professional minds who are working hard to make the town what it is today,” Hornik said. “On the local level, it doesn’t matter what party you identify with as long as you do what’s right for the people you represent. Our message has simply been, ‘Join us… do good work for your town.’ As a result, we’ve successfully motivated hundreds of people to get off the sidelines and help out.”

That local commitment also translated to projects like the Shade Tree Commission, which to date has planted more than 4,000 trees, as well as the administration’s Teen Advisory Committee.

“There is a huge teen population in Marlboro, and when I was first elected, I had a group of about ten teens visit the office, asking questions and showing an interest in getting involved,” Hornik recalled. “I promised them that we would put together a teen advisory committee, which now has about 1,500 members. They help launch coat drives, counsel seniors in matters of technol- ogy by helping them decipher email and cell phones, etc., and helped put together Project Porch Light, during which 120 kids went out and helped lower our carbon footprint, changing existing light bulbs to more energy-efficient models.”

Much of what Hornik has done was inspired by the projects his father crafted years before.

“I watched my dad serve as mayor for 12 years, and this was the job he was made for,” Hornik said. “He loved Marlboro, as do I, and believed we are one of the premier communities in the state. He was very proud to serve in that role, and he and his team gave us the foundation to do what we’re doing today.”

In addition to serving as mayor, Hornik currently works as a corporate, real estate, and transactional finance attorney and is active in the community in which he serves. Together with his wife, Daryl, he supports local charities, participates in frequent county discussions, and frequents a variety of recreational programs with his children: Ethan, 15; Olivia, 13; and Sophia, 7.

His second term ends in 2015, but the first fundraiser for his reelection is being hosted in May.

“We’d like to follow up on the goals we set in 2007,” Hornik said. “Those long term goals had a lot to do with being transparent, getting rid of waste, and making people feel good about where they live. We had a 100-day plan when we started, and I like to look at those goals and think about the initiatives we’re putting forth today. It helps us to evaluate what we’ve done and what we need to pursue further.”

The administration has met many of its original goals, even amidst much unanticipated adversity.

“We’ve had to deal with unprecedented financial situations and catastrophic weather events,” he noted. “Hurricane Irene, Superstorm Sandy, and this winter’s 14 storms have had a major effect on our town, and that was only compounded by the financial stress we started with in 2008. But we’ve dealt with all of it; our community and this administra- tion have been pushed and tested. I feel that as a team we handled it well.”

In the future, Hornik’s goal is to continue to make Marlboro even more financially vigorous and to continue to improve the township’s government and facilities.

“We’ve made a lot of improvements here that we are extremely proud of over the past several years,” Hornik con- cluded. “If we can continue to change and improve, then we’ve done our job.”

Photos: By Vinnie Amessé © www.amessephoto.com