Firearm Safety

Since the pandemic in 2020, our community has a higher risk of gun death or injury due to the nearly five-fold increase in the average annual number of handgun permits approved in New Providence. To keep our community safe, Keane and Dolan will:

• Strengthen our firearm ordinances to help prevent gun injuries or deaths.
• Hold public forums to hear residents’ concerns and to educate them on ways to keep their families safe.
• Work to pass resolutions both at Borough Council and in collaboration with the New Providence Board of Education to promote secure firearm storage and other responsible firearm ownership actions.

Municipal Taxes

Our local tax rates have increased every year for the past 20+ years without clear justification, making our town unaffordable for many young families and retirees. Keane and Dolan will work to:

• Identify the primary sources driving continual municipal tax increases and seek options to reverse this trend.
• Employ new fiscal management practices such as zero-based budgeting.
• Create and publish easy-to-follow summaries of all annual revenue and expense categories to make it clear to residents what drives the Borough’s tax rates.

Government Transparency and Accountability

Important and useful Borough information is often not reaching all of our residents, and it can be challenging to get the Borough to resolve residents’ problems. To mitigate these issues, Keane and Dolan will:

• Conduct a community-wide survey to identify the most effective communication methods both to receive input from residents and to disseminate Borough information—and then modifying current methods accordingly to meet the needs of our town.
• Establish government-wide protocols to ensure accountability and responsiveness to residents’ questions and concerns.
• Identify ways to leverage the expertise and volunteerism of our community members to enrich the work of our Council and the benefits to our town.