Monmouth County Board of Commissioners Primary 2025: Katie Kelliher

MONMOUTH COUNTY, NJ — This year’s Republican primary race for the Board of County Commissioners is packed in Monmouth County with three candidates running for two of the party’s open spots.

Candidate Katie Kelliher is running for election on the board against incumbents Dominick “Nick” DiRocco and Thomas Arnone.

In the Democratic Primary race, Vito Colasurdo and Jacquelyn Wenzel are running for the two spots open for their party's nominations.

Early voting for the Primary Election will run from June 3 through June 8. Primary Election Day is June 10.

Are you running for the Board of County Commissioners in Monmouth County? Contact Sara Winick at sara.winick@patch.com for information on being featured in a candidate's profile and submitting campaign announcements to Patch.

Katie Kelliher

Age: 47
Town of Residence: Freehold, NJ
Education: Degree in education and dual certified special education and regular classroom teacher in NJ
Occupation: Real estate professional with over 25 years’ experience

What drove you to seek public office?
Concern for people and my distrust of the political establishment in the Monmouth County GOP.

The entrenched Monmouth Republicans have lost their way and lost sight of Republican values. They spend and tax like Democrats, then spend some more, all the time making county government bigger.

I believe in Donald Trump’s stance to make government smaller and more efficient, not to allow elected officials, such as those in Monmouth, to create bigger, costlier government.

What sets you apart from the other candidates?
My dual careers as a teacher and now a real estate sales professional give me a unique insight into the people and needs of Monmouth County.

First, we need someone in county government to fight hard and loud for more state education funding. Monmouth schools are getting cheated, and so are the taxpayers.

Secondly, I’ve been working with people buying and selling homes for years, and I have intimate knowledge of the difficulty people have in affording homes in the county. High property taxes are driving seniors out of their homes and hindering young people from getting into a home.

County spending is escalating rapidly year after year — almost $24 million this year alone. I believe I am better in touch with the people who live, work and pay taxes in Monmouth than any single person on the commission – and I believe in, and will practice transparency.

What do you see as the biggest issue Monmouth County is facing, and how will you resolve it?
The biggest issue people struggle with is property taxes, and that is connected to the growth of county government and the lack of state school aid. When you add up those two items, they create an unaffordable tax burden on working people.

Since the COVID year of 2019 to now, the county tax levy has grown by $63.17 million – not counting the open space/ recreation tax that escalated to $55 million this year – an increase of $20 million since 2019. Homeowners this year will pay in excess of $425 million to the county this year.

What are past accomplishments or experiences that make you qualified for this position?
As a real estate sales professional for decades, I understand better than most the impact property taxes have on home affordability. Therefore, I want to see the county tax board abandon its practice of allowing municipalities to conduct yearly rolling revaluations of property.

Those yearly revaluations artificially inflate the value of people’s homes and lead to much higher property taxes. Essentially, homeowners – especially senior citizens – are paying taxes on projected gains in property values that the homeowners have not realized. It’s unfair and must stop, but the county commissioners say and do nothing about it.

If elected, what do you most hope to achieve in Monmouth County?
First, I want to follow President Trump’s model – and trim the budget and stop the growth of county government.

Republicans should not be building expensive government empires, which is being done in Monmouth. Trimming government and demanding accountability will help lower property taxes.

Secondly, I want to create a transparent county government. Our county government is opaque and designed to keep people in the dark. I will communicate what I know about county government directly to the people, and I won’t care who doesn’t like it.

I will also push to move county commissioner meetings to more convenient times, rather than early afternoon, when few can attend. And I will ask that the commissioner meetings be moved to multiple towns in the county so more people can see their county officials at work.

Name one thing about Monmouth County that always makes you smile.
The families of Monmouth County make me smile! We have a group of some of the smartest, hardworking people I’ve ever met. I’m proud to live among these families, which is why I want to be their eyes on the inside of county government