Plymouth resident Jared Valanzola is touting efficiency and what he calls “common sense conservative leadership” in his re-election bid as a Plymouth County Commissioner.
Valanzola, 36, says he wants to use the regional government to save its member communities money — and to provide them with more money.
“I’m really proud of the work that we’ve done at the county level,” Valanzola told NewBostonPost in an in-person interview “It’s an oft overlooked position by the general public. We are the only conservative Republican majority board or commission in the state — and I want to continue to demonstrate what common sense conservative policy making in Massachusetts. As an executive branch board, we’re able to carry out the policies that we want to. We’ve been able to do that for four years, and I hope to continue to do that for another four years.”
“Having Republican control, in a partisan sense, is important because it shows you can have conservative leadership in Massachusetts without a lot of fanfare — per se — or a lot of noise being made. We’re getting things done,” he added.
The Plymouth County Commissioners, for example, decided that the county would administer federal aid during the coronavirus pandemic, including $90 million from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act of 2020 and the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, both coronavirus-era federal spending measures. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts administered this aid for most of the rest of the state.
By overseeing spending locally, Valanzola says, the county commissioners made sure communities ended up with millions more than their counterparts elsewhere because Plymouth County administered the aid with a roughly 1 percent administrative cost — lower than the 5 to 7 percent national average.
“Now, I know what a lot of our conservative friends and readers might think,” Valanzola said. ” ‘I don’t want that. The federal government stole that money from me to begin with.’ That said, I’d rather it be spent in Plymouth County instead of being sent back to Washington D.C., and repurposed for a foreign country or whatever else the federal government may waste that money on. We’ve been able to effectuate high levels of efficiency with those programs, with the hard work of my colleagues and the Treasurer’s office.”
Additionally, Valanzola noted that the Plymouth County government is the only government in the state that he’s aware of that has cut its budget over the past four years.
In fiscal year 2021, the county had a $15.2 million budget, and it has a $11.87 million projected budget in fiscal year 2025 — a decrease of about $3.33 million.
Valanzola voted last December to implement a hiring freeze last year for county government — a freeze that’s still in effect.
“Much like when you run a business, you need to react to the changes in your marketplace,” Valanzola said. “We have, in the last few years, with high interest rates and no inventory, made the decision to trim the budget based purely on the fact that there hasn’t been much demand for some of our services that are catered to the real estate market. With the real estate market down, we’ve trimmed about $3 million from the budget.”
“Some communities out there have had to ask for overrides and those communities have not had to make those hard decisions we have at the county level,” he added. “The county can’t ask for an override, so we don’t have that failsafe a municipality has. We have to be careful. And in many counties, they don’t have county government anymore, so I’m extra sensitive to the fact that if Plymouth County were to find itself in financial difficulties, the state would look at a way to eliminate us — and I don’t think that would be good for our member communities. And candidly, that’s not even on the table right now, because we’ve worked incredibly hard to ensure the county is efficiently run and budgetarily responsible.”
As Valanzola points out, some of the county’s revenue comes from recording fees from the Registry of Deeds — revenue collected when real estate transactions happen.
County commissioner is a part-time office. Outside of politics, Valanzola is a real estate agent, which he said helps him when it comes to budgeting.
“You can only refinance so many people into a 2.5 percent interest rate over 30 years before you run out of people to refinance. So I was aware of the fact that a slower real estate market was going to be on the horizon. Now we’re in leaner times and we’re able to spread a surplus from previous years into these budgets. But having that real estate experience has been value added to the board and the county overall. I see the trends and am able to bring that knowledge and expertise to the board.”
Outside of administering federal aid, Plymouth County government provides various services, Valanzola said.
Through its 4-H Extension Program, it works to prevent the spread of invasive species of plants in the county. The county also has an entomologist, which is a scientist who studies insects, as it tries to prevent tick-borne diseases.
The county also processes parking tickets, an unfunded mandate from the state; many private parking ticket vendors avoid doing business with Massachusetts communities since they are too small, Valanzola said.
The Mayflower Municipal Health Group, managed by the county, offers joint insurance purchasing, while the county manages municipal retirement benefits and provides procurement services for smaller communities.
In addition, Plymouth County has a mobile integrated health pilot program to expand in-home medical care options, allowing more people to recover at home. It also operates a public safety vehicle bid program and a fuel bid program, which sees participation from governments across New England.
The county is also exploring the possibility of pond management, such as introducing oxygen into the water through aeration to prevent a pond from disappearing.
“One of the things that makes Massachusetts needlessly expensive is that we have 351 towns and cities doing the same things 351 times,” Valanzola said. “A lot of these vendors are dealing with counties nationally, so they’re dealing with a lot of volume.”
“It doesn’t make sense for a town to buy a piece of equipment it will use once every five years,” he added, speaking about pond management. “Why not have Plymouth County buy it and let the member communities use it when they need it so it gets use and maintenance and doesn’t sit and collect rust?”
Valanzola said if he wins re-election, he wants to explore assisting municipalities with school transportation, bidding as a county for those services instead of against one another; he said that if towns worked together, they could save money.
“It would save communities a boatload of money, especially communities sending kids out of district to vocational schools or agricultural schools or developmental disability schools as well,” he said. “That’s something I’d really love to explore.”
Valanzola, who is in his first term as a Plymouth County Commissioner, is one of four candidates running for two seats.
Another incumbent, Democrat Greg Hanley, of Abington, is seeking re-election. The two challengers are Hanover selectman Rhonda Nyman, a Democrat and former state representative, and former Plymouth County Commissioner Tony O’Brien, a Republican from Brockton. O’Brien served from 2009 to 2013; elected as a Democrat in 2008, he became a Republican in 2011.
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