Running for a second three-year term, Rosenzweig has served on various committees such as the Englewood Democratic Municipal Committee for two years; the Borough Council’s budget subcommittee; and liaison to the traffic advisory committee.

In contrast, longtime Englewood resident Sniderman said she volunteered 15 years for the Englewood Hospital and Medical Center and served as chairwoman of the volunteer services committee and the hospital’s board. When her children were young, the challenger said she acted as Parent Teacher Organization president.

As a physician, Rosenzweig said that he brings "an extraordinary amount of experience" from preparing budgets and grant proposals for medical practices.

He attributed what he called exercising "sound fiscal policy" during the $58.5 million municipal budget preparation with his council and professional experiences.

His proof: a 3.2 percent tax levy increase that ranks the fourth lowest of the 70 Bergen County towns, he said.

Efforts to curb spending and reduce expenses included "progressive reforms in hiring practices" and the elimination of city employment through attrition, he said. The City Council, he also said, has started to plan future tax years and big-time expenditures like the $6.5 million construction of a new firehouse.

"We finally have a more responsive government and a leaner, more effective city hall," said Rosenzweig. "I want to continue the string of successes."

But challenger Sniderman doesn’t agree.

"I don’t believe that cutting services in the 1st Ward [is] the proper way to cut taxes," she said, using reduced garbage pick-up in her neighborhood as an example.

Although politically active for many years, Sniderman said she never ran for political office before. In fact, the candidate said she recently quit her six-year job as the mayor’s assistant in order to campaign.

"Why my sudden interest now?" she asked. "I feel that we, as citizens, need to have a full-time council member in residence that can address [residents’] problems and quality of life problems."

Sniderman proposes to do this by planning for future development projects to expand the tax base. "Everything you see happening now was planned five or six years ago," she said.

"This is a very diversified ward," Sniderman said, pointing to some residents who are well off while others face the dilemma of moving. "I want to bring a sense of unity that’s no longer in the town."

Rosenzweig doesn’t think Sniderman can do it.

He said that no former employee of the mayor could represent the "multiple, independent voices of the city."

In response, Sniderman said she hopes to stir competition in the 1st Ward because, "Some of the people, certainly committee people, think it [being elected] is an entitlement."