Billboards and Belford: $12,500 in Perry Campaign Donations Linked to Development Interests

A Public Record NJ analysis identified $12,500 in direct contributions to Middletown Mayor Tony Perry’s county commissioner campaign from three donors with indirect ties to a waterfront redevelopment and proposed digital billboards in the township. Perry did not respond to questions about those relationships before publication.

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At the beginning of 2026, Perry described local government as the place “where values become decisions.” At the township’s annual reorganization meeting, he emphasized public officials’ responsibility to earn residents’ trust, highlighting park improvements, open-space preservation and property-tax relief for volunteer emergency responders as the nation prepared to celebrate its 250th anniversary.¹

Perry has also spoken sharply about what he considers limits on municipal authority. During a September discussion of an open-space land transaction involving campaign donors, he said, “Zoning gets thrown out the window when it comes to Mount Laurel.” He has argued that court decisions and affordable-housing requirements restrict the township’s control over where higher-density development may be permitted.²

Two development matters came before the Township Committee on July 13. With little discussion, Perry moved to approve a 30-year tax agreement for a waterfront redevelopment estimated to cost $166.7 million. Later that evening, he defended the township’s earlier decision to allow digital billboard applications at three locations, despite objections from residents and the Environmental Commission.

July 13 appears nine times in Perry’s county commissioner campaign-finance records, accounting for $38,500 in reported contributions. Three entries totaled $12,500: $2,500 from a Georgia billboard contractor, $5,000 from an Atlantic City Municipal Utilities Authority executive and $5,000 from a PAC chaired by former state Sen. Joseph Kyrillos Jr. Perry previously served as Kyrillos’ chief of staff. The other contributors’ connections required a closer examination of business and municipal records.³

The ties differ: a PAC received earlier contributions from an executive associated with the redevelopment; a billboard contractor previously worked for a company linked to the Middletown applicant; and an individual contributor was formerly married to that company’s owner. The records do not establish that the donors coordinated their contributions, gave money on a developer’s behalf or influenced Perry’s official actions. With Perry running for Monmouth County commissioner in the November 3 election and the billboard applications expected to return to the Planning Board on November 4, those relationships carry immediate public interest.

A waterfront redevelopment and a PAC contribution

On July 13, Perry moved to adopt Ordinance 2026-3519, authorizing a long-term financial agreement with Port Monmouth Urban Renewal, LLC for part of the Port Belford redevelopment area near the Belford Ferry Terminal. Deputy Mayor Rick Hibell seconded the motion, and all five Township Committee members voted in favor.³

The agreement allows a 30-year exemption from conventional property taxes for the mixed-use redevelopment project. Instead, the urban renewal entity would make annual service-charge payments, estimated by the township at $1.56 million in the first stabilized year. The agreement also provides for an administrative fee equal to 2% of the previous year’s service charge.⁴

The ordinance describes approximately 410 apartments, including an estimated 61 affordable units, as well as retail space, a ferry-terminal arrival plaza, restaurants, a farmers market, an amphitheater and parking. The township projects the $166.7 million development could generate up to 350 construction jobs and 100 permanent jobs. These are estimates, and the July vote did not approve a final site plan.

The agreement is also consistent with Perry’s previously stated interest in alternative sources of municipal revenue. In his 2023 mayoral address, he pledged to seek “new ways outside of the traditional property taxes to lessen the burden on our residents.” He called fiscal discipline a priority but was not speaking specifically about Port Belford.⁷

Under New Jersey’s long-term tax-exemption framework, a payment in lieu of taxes, or PILOT, substitutes an annual service charge for conventional property taxes on qualifying improvements. Municipalities generally retain most of that revenue, while school districts ordinarily receive no direct allocation. Such arrangements can raise questions about funding services for new residents. The Port Belford property, however, is already county-owned and tax-exempt. Any analysis of potential school-tax revenue must account for that existing status rather than assume the township or school district would lose taxes currently being collected.

Residents commenting on earlier public coverage of the Port Belford plans raised concerns about speeding and additional traffic on streets already used by ferry commuters. Middletown has advanced the project through agreements involving Canoe Brook Development and Woodmont Properties. Other major development proposals in town, including West Nut Swamp and Circus Liquors, have generated contested proceedings and multi-year litigation.

The PAC connection to Port Belford

Perry’s county campaign reported a $5,000 contribution dated July 13 from Strong America Strong New Jersey PAC.⁵ Kyrillos, a former state senator who represented Middletown, chairs the PAC. The PAC reported issuing the $5,000 check on July 1, while Perry’s campaign recorded the contribution as received July 13. The filings do not establish whether the payment arrived before or after the Township Committee’s evening vote.

The PAC’s earlier filings provide a connection to the development. Eric Witmondt, whom Public Record NJ has identified as a business executive associated with the project, made two $2,500 contributions in 2025, totaling $5,000, to the PAC. The reports do not trace those earlier payments to the PAC’s later check to Perry. State formation documents name Witmondt as the LLC’s registered agent, a designation that does not by itself establish ownership. Port Monmouth Urban Renewal, LLC was formed on April 14, 2026, and its formation documents include approval from the state Department of Community Affairs under the Long Term Tax Exemption Law.⁶

Newmark Group, a commercial real estate advisory and services firm, employs both Eric Witmondt and Joseph Kyrillos as senior managing directors in its Rutherford, New Jersey, office.⁶

The PAC also received $5,000 in 2025 from BLUEPAC, a political committee associated with Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey. According to Kyrillos’ website, he has served on Horizon’s board of directors since 2017.⁶

ELEC registration forms identify Ronald Gravino as treasurer of Perry’s previous township committee campaign, his current county campaign and the PAC, with the same Edison post-office box and telephone number listed on all forms. The PAC has also used the filed name “Kyrillos PAC for Strong America Strong NJ.” Its registration states that no candidate or officeholder established or controlled the committee.⁸

The county’s stake in Port Belford

The redevelopment agreement covers part of Block 306, Lot 66, within a waterfront area that includes county-owned property and the Belford ferry terminal. The county’s role matters because county commissioners oversee county property and services, including arrangements involving the terminal.

Perry is seeking the seat being vacated by Ross Licitra, a county commissioner and Monmouth County SPCA executive director who faced criticism in that role and declined to seek reelection. Licitra’s county assignments include the Department of Parks, Construction Board of Appeals and Belford Ferry Services. Those duties would not automatically transfer to Perry if elected. Whether a future county decision involving Port Belford would raise a recusal question would depend on the circumstances.

The July ordinance did not authorize construction. Further redevelopment and Planning Board reviews, along with any required state and federal permits, remain necessary. On October 19, Middletown approved an amendment affecting parcel arrangements, ownership and construction deadlines involving Port Monmouth Residential Developer LLC, associated with Woodmont Properties and Canoe Brook Development. That company is distinct from Port Monmouth Urban Renewal, LLC, which is named in the July financial agreement.⁹

Digital billboards: an earlier ordinance, continuing objections

The digital billboard dispute began months before the July contributions. On April 8, the Township Committee unanimously adopted Ordinance 2026-3502, allowing digital billboards as conditional uses at three specified locations. The zoning change did not approve any particular sign. Applicants still needed Planning Board review and required state permits.¹⁰

IAAT Services LLC subsequently applied to build billboards at 981 Highway 36, 220 Highway 36 and 329 Newman Springs Road. One application proposed a 40-foot structure with two 378-square-foot LED displays. At a June 3 Planning Board hearing, residents and board members raised concerns about glare, traffic safety, environmental impacts and oversight. The applicant’s engineer acknowledged that a light-level study had not been prepared for that application.¹¹

At the July 13 Township Committee meeting, Marty Judd, a member of the Environmental Commission, read a statement unanimously approved by the commission four days earlier. The commission did not oppose digital billboards in all circumstances. It asked the township to suspend or rescind the ordinance pending clearer brightness standards, environmental review and public outreach.

Township Attorney Brian Nelson argued that court decisions restricted Middletown’s ability to prohibit LED billboards outright. He said 11 permit applications were pending with the New Jersey Department of Transportation and warned that refusing to amend the ordinance could expose the township to litigation. Nelson was presenting the township’s legal position; the pending applications did not mean NJDOT had approved all 11 signs.

Perry agreed. “We would have been either stuck with 11 digital billboards or three,” he said. “It’s a no-win situation that you’re in.”¹²

Perry was defending the zoning ordinance adopted in April, not voting on an individual billboard application that night. All three Middletown applications remained pending, with a Planning Board hearing scheduled for November 4, one day after the county election.

The contributions and the companies behind the applications

Perry’s county campaign reported two other contributions dated July 13 with distinct connections to people or businesses in outdoor advertising: $2,500 from Outdoor Specialist Inc., a Georgia-based billboard fabricator and installer, and $5,000 from India P. Still, identified in the filing as an executive with the Atlantic City Municipal Utilities Authority.³

Outdoor Specialist was not the applicant in Middletown. IAAT submitted the local applications. But records from other municipalities connect IAAT with Pacific Outdoor Advertising, a company associated with Joseph Jacobs.

In nearby Brielle, separate applications proposed billboards on opposite sides of the Route 35 bridge: IAAT’s application at 800 Ashley Avenue and Pacific Outdoor’s application at 722 Ashley Avenue. The applications identify the same attorney, and an accompanying site plan depicts both proposed billboards and their viewing angles. The 722 Ashley application identifies Jacobs as owning 100% of Pacific Outdoor.¹³

A separate lawsuit documents Jacobs acting on IAAT’s behalf. In a complaint filed against the Borough of Raritan and its Planning Board on December 15, 2025, after officials rejected a proposed 62-foot digital billboard, IAAT alleged that “Plaintiff presented testimony from Joseph Jacobs on behalf of IAAT” at a September 24 hearing. The case, SOM-L-001179-25, was reported by Patch, which linked the complaint. The complaint documents Jacobs’ participation in that proceeding, not ownership of IAAT or control over its Middletown applications.¹⁴

The Georgia donor, Outdoor Specialist, also has a documented commercial relationship with Pacific. The contractor described installing a large billboard for Pacific in Jersey City in December 2025. The documented work was in Jersey City; the records do not identify Outdoor Specialist as a contractor on the Middletown proposals.¹³

Still’s connection is personal rather than an established business role. A 2023 WPG Talk Radio report about the Atlantic City Municipal Utilities Authority identified her as Jacobs’ former spouse. The contribution filing identifies no role for Still at Pacific Outdoor or IAAT.¹⁵

Together, Still and Outdoor Specialist accounted for $7,500 in reported contributions dated July 13, alongside the $5,000 from the PAC described earlier. Outdoor Specialist was one of Perry’s out-of-state donors. Public Record NJ’s analysis of countywide campaign filings identified $26,000 across 11 contributions to Perry from addresses outside New Jersey, the highest dollar amount among countywide candidates in the 2026 election. Those addresses do not establish why donors contributed.¹⁶

Joseph Jacobs’ political history and a separate pardon controversy

Jacobs has a documented history of political contributions in New Jersey. News coverage has described him as a South Jersey Democratic political power broker. Public Record NJ identified at least $100,000 in contributions attributed to Jacobs in NJ ELEC records dating back to 2015, primarily to Democratic candidates and political committees. Some filings list a Florida address and identify him as an executive of Harlee and Associates LLC. The records also show a $1,000 contribution to Perry’s 2024 Township Committee campaign, when Middletown still prohibited digital billboards.¹⁷

Jacobs and former state Sen. Joseph Kyrillos Jr., whose PAC contributed to Perry’s county campaign, also have a documented history of political association. Both were named to Gov.-elect Chris Christie’s 2009 transition team, with Kyrillos serving on the leadership team and Jacobs assigned to the Economic Development and Growth subcommittee. More recently, a March 31, 2026, Instagram post by Atlantic City Mayor Marty Small pictured both men at a dinner alongside Small and Republican state Sen. Mike Testa.¹⁸

Jacobs’ family separately became the subject of news coverage in January 2026. On his last day in office, then-Gov. Phil Murphy pardoned Jacobs’ son, Harris Jacobs, who had been prosecuted for leaving the scene of a September 4, 2022, crash that killed 76-year-old Orlando Fraga at approximately 3:30 a.m. Harris Jacobs left the scene without notifying police. A jury returned a guilty verdict the day of the pardon. His attorney told BreakingAC that Murphy had issued the pardon before the verdict, although both became public that day. The case was also covered by The New York Times.¹⁹

The Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office criticized the pardon, while Democratic lawmakers questioned Murphy’s final clemency decisions. Republican lawmakers had separately condemned earlier clemency actions months before the Jacobs pardon. The case also drew attention on X. This is a separate episode in the family’s public history; the materials cited here do not connect the pardon to Perry’s campaign or the Middletown billboard applications.¹⁹

Perry did not respond to questions about the relationships

Before publication, Public Record NJ asked Perry what he knew about the contributors’ relationships when he voted or spoke at the July 13 meeting. The request addressed two matters:

1. Port Belford: Whether Perry knew, when voting on the financial agreement with Port Monmouth Urban Renewal, LLC, that Eric Witmondt, identified by Public Record NJ as a principal associated with the project, had given $5,000 to the PAC chaired by Kyrillos, which reported a $5,000 contribution to Perry’s county campaign.
2. Digital billboards: Whether Perry knew, when responding to the Environmental Commission, that Outdoor Specialist had previously worked with Pacific Outdoor, linked through municipal applications and litigation to IAAT, and that India Still, another campaign contributor, was Jacobs’ former spouse.

Perry did not respond by the initial deadline or a subsequent extension. Public Record NJ will update the article if a response is received after publication.

What happens next

Beyond the three contributions examined here, Perry’s July 13 filing also listed $10,000 from individuals associated with Interstate Outdoor Advertising, $10,000 from contributors associated with construction or real estate development, and $1,000 from a building-materials dealers trade organization. The records reviewed do not link those additional contributors to either Middletown matter.²⁰

The Port Belford project still requires additional reviews and approvals. The three billboard applications are expected to return to the Planning Board on November 4, one day after the county election.

The filings document contributions and separate political, commercial and personal relationships. They do not establish an exchange of campaign money for official action. What Perry knew about the connections on July 13, and whether they affected his decisions, remains unanswered.

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Notes

1. Township of Middletown, Mayor’s Address, 2026, 1–5, 11–12.
2. Township of Middletown, Township Committee meeting transcript, September 8, 2026, discussion of Chapel Hill land-swap ordinance and Mount Laurel requirements; Perry’s spoken attribution confirmed by Public Record NJ’s review of the meeting recording.
3. New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission, State and County General Election Contributions, 2026 county commissioner campaign filings, entries dated July 13, 2026; Township of Middletown, Minutes of the Regular Meeting, July 13, 2026, 5.
4. Township of Middletown, Ordinance 2026-3519, 1–3.
5. New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission, Anthony Perry county commissioner campaign, third-quarter 2026 report, received October 5, 2026; Strong America Strong New Jersey PAC, third-quarter 2026 report, received October 13, 2026.
6. New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission, Strong America Strong New Jersey PAC contribution filings, June 18 and December 31, 2025, and BLUEPAC contribution records; Port Monmouth Urban Renewal, LLC, Certificate of Formation, filed April 14, 2026, 1, 5 (including Department of Community Affairs urban renewal entity certification); Newmark, biographies of Eric Witmondt and Joseph Kyrillos; Joseph Kyrillos, website biography.
7. Township of Middletown, Mayor’s Address, January 1, 2023, 6.
8. New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission, Anthony Perry, Form D-1, received June 29, 2026; Kyrillos PAC for Strong America Strong NJ, Form D-4, received May 16, 2024.
9. Township of Middletown, Amended Port Belford Redevelopment Plan, August 2023, 71–73, 90–93; Township of Middletown, Resolution 26-277, adopted October 19, 2026, 2–4.
10. Township of Middletown, Ordinance 2026-3502, 4–5; Township of Middletown, Minutes of the Workshop Meeting, April 8, 2026, 5.
11. Township of Middletown, “981 Hwy 36 Conditional Use Permit,” May 28, 2026, 1–3; Middletown Township Planning Board, Meeting Minutes, June 3, 2026, 3–6.
12. Township of Middletown, transcript of public comment, July 13, 2026.
13. Borough of Brielle Planning/Zoning Board, “800 Ashley Avenue Application” and “722 Ashley Avenue Application”, including site plans and ownership disclosures; Meeting Minutes, May 12, 2026, 101–102; Outdoor Specialist Inc., “Another Challenging High ROI Outdoor Advertising Build in Jersey City”, January 30, 2026; Pacific Outdoor Advertising, company website and biography of Joseph Jacobs.
14. Superior Court of New Jersey, Somerset County, IAAT Services LLC v. Borough of Raritan Planning Board, complaint, December 15, 2025, SOM-L-001179-25, 7; Alexis Tarrazi, “62-Foot-High Route 202 Billboard Triggers Lawsuit Against Raritan”, Patch, December 23, 2025.
15. New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission, State and County General Election Contributions, entry for India P. Still, July 13, 2026; WPG Talk Radio, “Former Atlantic City Board Chairman Rips Outgoing Executive Director,” December 2023.
16. Public Record NJ analysis of Candidate Contribution Summary, 2026 countywide-election filings.
17. New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission, Anthony Perry 2024 municipal-campaign filings and contributor records for Joseph Jacobs; Public Record NJ analysis of New Jersey candidate and political-committee contributions from 2015 through 2026. Public Record NJ identified $103,200 in contributions it attributed to Jacobs; additional possible matches were excluded from the published minimum.
18. “Chris Christie Transition Team,” The Star-Ledger, December 17, 2009; Marty Small Sr., Instagram post, March 31, 2026.
19. Lynda Cohen, “UPDATE: Governor Pardons Atlantic City Man on Day He Is Convicted”, BreakingAC, January 20, 2026; Colleen O’Dea, “Prosecutors Slam Murphy’s Clemency for Killers, Those with Political Connections”, NJ Spotlight News, January 22, 2026; “Gopal Blasts Murphy’s Final-Hour Pardons”, NJ Spotlight News, January 29, 2026; New Jersey Senate Republicans, “Bucco Statement on Newest Round of Murphy Clemency Actions”, November 10, 2025; Wake Up NJ, post on X, January 2026.
20. New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission, State and County General Election Contributions, Perry county commissioner campaign entries dated July 13, 2026; Public Record NJ categorization of contributor business affiliations.