The money is being used for an environmental resources inventory.
By: Linda Seida
STOCKTON A $5,000 grant from the Delaware River Greenway Partnership will halve the town’s financial obligation for a matching $15,000 grant it received earlier this year from the Association of New Jersey Environmental Commissions.
The grant was for an environmental resources inventory.
The Borough Council voted unanimously to accept the grant during a meeting held Oct. 25. Councilman Joseph Skillodge was absent.
"We got $15,000, and we have to match $15,000," Mayor Gregg Racking said. "To match it, they allow us to use other grants."
Half of the borough’s obligation, or $7,500, is required to be cash. The other half could be in the form of what is termed in-kind services.
"Meaning our time and expertise," Mayor Rackin said.
The grant from the Delaware River Greenway Partnership brings the borough’s responsibility down to $2,500.
For the remaining cash obligation, the chairman of the town’s Environmental Commission, Bill Lowry, is seeking another grant, according to Mayor Rackin.
If the commission is successful in obtaining a grant in the amount of $2,500, it would "leave Stockton with no further cash outlay obligation," Mayor Rackin said.
The mayor sounded optimistic about the possibility of obtaining another grant but said even if the town remained responsible for coming up with the remaining $2,500, it would be money well spent.
The findings of the inventory can be used as the town prepares its Master Plan, an expense the town would have had to pay for otherwise, Mayor Rackin said.