Toms River Mayor Dan Rodrick is threatening to dissolve the Downtown Business Improvement District’s board (BID), noting they unfairly tax businesses in the township, without fulfilling their original mandate, following a controversy over summertime fireworks.

“The bid is a private entity that taxes over 200 businesses. All the revenue goes to salaries and their building.  The events they do only benefit a few stores on Washington Street.  That’s not fair,” Rodrick said in a statement to TLS.

Rodrick had demanded the BID pay for a weekly fireworks show during summer weekends, but faced resistance from the group which claimed it is too expensive.

“We’ve encouraged them to put on firework shows on Friday nights in summer because we believe that will supercharge commerce for all businesses south of Route 37. The bid has failed to revitalize downtown; if they do not change, we will dissolve them,” Rodrick added.

The township’s business improvement district, which is part of downtown Toms River, was formed in 2002 in an effort to revitalize the area economically.

Funding for the group comes from an additional property tax levied on businesses in the area.