By Sunayana Prabhu
EATONTOWN – Eatontown has a problem most towns envy, and it’s now a raging campaign debate. With millions of dollars in funding from Netflix at stake, the discussion about how to spend it has overtaken Eatontown’s municipal races.
Voters will choose a mayor and two borough council members in the Nov. 3 general election.
Democratic Mayor Anthony Talerico Jr. is seeking reelection for a third term as mayor against Republican council member Maria Grazia Escalante. Escalante was elected to the council in 2024 and is currently serving her second term. She is the only Republican on the six-member council.
The council race has two open seats. Democratic incumbents Danielle Jones and Candace Faust are seeking reelection. Jones is serving a second term; Faust is currently serving her first term on the council. The two Republican challengers are former council member Kevin Gonzalez and Ali Mehdaoui, founder of ME Studios.
The biggest issue raised by candidates this year is how the town should use and manage the millions Netflix gifted to the borough as the studio takes shape in the Eatontown section of Fort Monmouth. One of the most debated issues is the design of the new borough hall, one of the most expensive infrastructure upgrades the borough needs.
The issue has emerged as a partisan dividing line, with Democrats backing the project and Republicans looking to scale it down. Since 2025, the council has passed multiple resolutions to design and develop plans for the new municipal building. So far, the borough council has unanimously voted on those decisions. The project is still in the early stages, and the council has not yet selected or approved any plans.
The Netflix funds will support the new construction. While the council favors the proposed plans, Republican challengers have opposed the building’s scale and called for a modest size to avoid future debt.
Under Netflix’s payment-in-lieu-of-taxes (PILOT) agreement, Eatontown is set to receive $47 million up front, along with an annual revenue stream, with the money subject to restrictions on how it can be spent. Eatontown also received another $5 million in community benefit funds.
Eatontown operates under the state’s borough form of government, with a mayor and six-member council elected at large on a partisan basis. The mayor serves a four-year term while council members serve staggered three-year terms, with two seats up for election each year.
The deadline to apply for mail-in ballots is Oct. 27. The voter registration deadline is Oct. 13. Early voting will run from Oct. 24 to Nov. 1.
Mayoral Candidates
Maria Grazia Escalante (R)
Escalante has lived in Eatontown since 1967. A Monmouth University graduate with a B.A. in history, she spent many years working in the private sector before taking over Imprint Shop, her family’s Eatontown custom apparel business, which her father established in 1997. She and her husband, Miguel, have three adult children. While on the council, Escalante has served as liaison to the finance, recreation, historical, tenants’ rights, the library and public buildings committees.
“My top priority is to keep Eatontown affordable through responsible, transparent fiscal management,” Escalante said. “With all the major projects that are going on, there are significant spending decisions ahead of us, and we really need to be careful and evaluate our costs, our plans for the long term, and make sure the taxpayers are receiving the real value for every dollar spent.”
Escalante said residents should understand where public money is going and why, and feel included in decisions affecting the town. According to Escalante, the $47 million PILOT payment from Netflix comes with spending deadlines. The borough must withdraw a percentage of funds and use 80% of those funds within three years. “I don’t want to see all of it just go to one thing. I want to try to spend that money the wisest way we can,” Escalante said.
About $2 million of the $5 million community benefits money has been spent or promised, she noted.
As chairwoman of the borough building committee, she said she is in favor of a new borough hall. “To renovate that building, we would be opening up a can of worms that would cost us more money than it would be if we were to build new,” Escalante said.
“But there’s a caveat to that: I want to make sure when we build it, we build it the right size.”
Anthony Talerico Jr. (D)
Talerico is a lifelong Eatontown resident. Before his election as mayor, he served on the Zoning Board of Adjustment and the Eatontown Sewerage Authority and as a council member for nine years. Talerico graduated from the University of Scranton with a bachelor’s degree in accounting and received an MBA from Monmouth University. He worked as a CPA, specializing in forensic accounting. After a career in accounting, including owning his own business, Talerico went to nursing school and became a registered nurse. He works on the oncology floor at a local hospital.
Talerico said infrastructure improvements would be his top priority, while limiting costs to residents. “My priority has been investing in our infrastructure through grants,” Talerico said. The $47 million upfront payment from the Netflix PILOT is “outside of the municipal budget,” he said, which allows the borough to complete infrastructure projects without affecting taxpayers.
According to Talerico, some of the borough’s infrastructure needs and projects include rehabilitating the Wampum Lake Dam at Wampum Park (35 West St.), downtown paving and bringing garbage collection in-house, which will provide “better service and it is going to be more cost-effective.”
Talerico noted that the administration has secured more than $7 million in federal, state and county grants for these upgrades. That includes $3 million in federal funds to replace the Wampum Dam spillway; a $1 million New Jersey Economic Development Authority grant for downtown improvements; $1.6 million for parks, including an inclusive playground and bike lanes; $850,000 in state budget funds; and $680,000 in county open-space funding.
On the borough hall debate, Talerico said “it would cost too much to renovate,” noting both construction expenses and the cost of relocating staff during the work.
The new building is planned for the existing borough hall parking lot, behind the current building, which would be demolished after construction. The final design and cost have not been determined. Talerico said the borough plans to seek bids for several alternatives so the council can choose a cost-conscious option that meets the needs of employees and the community.
Council Candidates
Candace Faust (D)
Faust is a lifelong Eatontown resident and graduated from Rutgers University with a bachelor’s degree in political science. She served on several commissions and committees in town, including the Traffic Advisory Committee, Recreation Advisory Committee and the Community Garden Committee. She served as vice chairperson of the Zoning Board of Adjustment, chairperson of the Shade Tree Commission and co-founder and chairperson of the Complete Streets Advisory Committee, and has secured over $1 million in grant funding, she said.
Faust said her top priority is keeping taxes reasonable while improving the town’s aging infrastructure through grant funding and improving walkability.
“Our town is rather old. We celebrated our 350th anniversary in 2020,” she said, noting that the Fort Monmouth area particularly could benefit from infrastructure upgrades to make it safe for residents.
About the borough hall, Candice said the roughly 60-year-old building is no longer an adequate or safe work environment and does not meet current accessibility and facility standards. “When they built the building years ago, it wasn’t the same standards as we’re talking today. Whether it be bathrooms, whether it be handicapped capabilities, everything’s changed,” Faust said.
Kevin Gonzalez (R)
Gonzalez served 10 years on both the Recreation Advisory Committee and Eatontown Board of Education. He has coached many youth sports in Eatontown and served as a Cub Scout leader. Kevin holds degrees from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey and Kean College. He is a licensed physical therapist for over 32 years and has owned Activity First Physical Therapy in Eatontown for 20 years. He and his wife, Denise, moved to Eatontown in 1996 to raise their three sons. Gonzalez said he will bring a keen business mind, fiscal responsibility and smart development back to Eatontown.
“The one top priority is to lower taxes,” Gonzalez said. “The way we do that is to look at spending. I think Eatontown is at a crossroads right now with everything that’s coming in with Netflix, with the mall redevelopment, and I believe that controlling spending and managing these projects appropriately is the key to moving Eatontown forward.”
About the borough hall, Gonzales echoed his Republican running mates: “I don’t think we need to build a structure that is twice the size of what we have right now. Right now, borough hall is, I believe, about 27,000 square feet, and the last proposal that I saw shows that it’s going to be around 60,000 square feet. So, well over twice the amount for 13,000 residents.”
Danielle M. Jones (D)
Jones is currently serving her second term on the borough council. She chairs the Finance & Ordinance Committee and serves as a liaison to several local boards and commissions. She has served as a commissioner on the New Jersey Amistad Commission since 2022. Jones is also the founder of Elucidate Consulting LLC, providing resources and guidance to support effective leadership in local government. With a background in higher education and community engagement, she is committed to civic education, public service, social equity and creating opportunities for meaningful community participation throughout New Jersey.
Jones said her top priority is improving residents’ quality of life through affordability, education and healthcare. “I look at the planning and the zoning in town. I look at the quality of our school systems. I look at what information and resources are available to deal with different issues such as food insecurity or housing assistance or utility insecurity,” Jones said. “Not saying that I’m going to have an answer for everything, but if I at least do my research and connect people to the resources, or organizations, or government agencies that can improve their quality of life, that’s what’s most important to me.”
Regarding borough hall, Jones believes that with the numerous developments in town, including Netflix and Monmouth Square, “it’s important that the government body is proactive and does its due diligence to plan, finance and support a new municipal building that will adapt and evolve with the needs of the Borough and support its residents and community members.”
Ali Mehdaoui (R)
Mehdaoui graduated from Monmouth Regional High School, where he met his wife, Claudia. Today, they are raising their two children in the same community that helped shape his upbringing. Mehdaoui is the founder and owner of M.E. Studios, an Eatontown-based media and production company, and speaks six languages. He has been active in the community through the PTA, recreation programs, local volunteering, St. Dorothea’s Church, and coaching youth soccer and basketball. A longtime community advocate, he is a first-time candidate for elected office.
Mehdaoui said fiscal responsibility is his top priority in Eatontown. “It’s not about how much money is being given, rather about how is that money being spent,” he said, referring to the $47 million in Netflix funding and $5 million in community benefit agreements.
While Mehdaoui supports a new municipal building to improve conditions for police officers and employees, he opposes a proposed facility of 60,000 to 62,000 square feet, which would be three times the current building’s size. “Size it right, price it right, and we should provide employees with what they need without leaving our children, my children, myself, too, and the next generation carrying an unnecessary financial burden,” Mehdaoui said. “If we spend all of that $47 million in the municipal building, I don’t believe it is the proper, responsible thing to do.”
With new housing developments expected to add demands on traffic, roads and emergency services, Mehdaoui called for a spending priority list. “I believe with my background I can at least help with that stewardship in helping the city council to make better decisions, to scrutinize the options that we have,” he said.
Note: The Two River Times reached out to every candidate to learn what they see as top priorities for the borough. Candidate responses have been edited for clarity and length. Candidates are listed in alphabetical order by last name.
This article originally appeared in the October 8-14, 2026 print edition of The Two River Times.
