By Nick Sodano, Editor Mount Holly Reporter
The Mount Holly Reporter interviewed Fire District Commissioner candidate Gary Brotz on October 22, 2026.
Brotz focused on his perspective as a Certified Public Accountant and his proposals for fiscal transparency and budget scrutiny, establishing good working relationships with the firefighting professionals, and his commitment to better information sharing on the Board and with the public.
When asked why residents should vote for a candidate like him who is not a firefighter, Brotz noted that fire commissioners serve in a governance and policy capacity: focusing on setting policy, evaluating contracts, reviewing budgets and making acquisitions. As a Certified Public Accountant, Brotz believes his background brings needed financial expertise to the five-member board of commissioners.
Addressing the adversarial climate of board meetings, Brotz criticized the unequal distribution of information, noting that some commissioners received agendas and resolutions ahead of time while others receive them only an hour before public meetings. Brotz said transparency demands that meeting details be shared with every commissioner simultaneously so as to avoid the conflict and litigation that marred the past 18 months.
When asked about leadership style and factional conflicts on the board over the last 2 years, Brotz said his leadership approach focuses on collaboration and reaching consensus. He intends to work closely with operational staff like Chief Mason and Captain Rob Allen and emphasized that commissioners should support operational goals without micromanaging.
Brotz said that the Fire District would benefit from a months-early budget review process. He would like to see a public budget workshop months before the annual budget is finalized. He said that the Fire District has used an imprecise budgeting process that does not conform to business sector practices where review of expenditures are a line by line exercise. Brotz wants to work through these things with the finance clerk and department director, moving away from rounding line items to the nearest thousand dollars in favor of a budget based on actual prior-year totals. He is calling for the publishing of all checks, expenses, and expenditures so the public can verify actual department spending.
When asked for specific examples of potential budget reduction areas Brotz said that legal expenses seemed like a good place to look. He noted that if the District can comply with Open Public Meeting Act requirements [see rothmel wins carty out ], it’s reasonable to assume significant savings could be achieved since spending in years prior to the OPMA litigation were about $40,000 less. Further he noted that vehicle leases might be re-evaluated since some of the leased vehicles appear to be underutilized. These leases account for about $35,000 annually in expenses.
Brotz provided The Reporter with a graph and tables detailing District spending.
