By Jessica Ercolino, Staff Writer
Officials in rural towns like Upper Freehold and Millstone are thrilled their efforts to fight a mandate charging local taxpayers for state police coverage have paid off.
The State’s Council on Local Mandates recently nullified provisions of the state budget that would have required 89 municipalities to either pay for state police coverage or explore alternatives, such as consolidation or creating their own force.
Upper Freehold Mayor Steve Alexander said he was pleased with the decision. “This could not have happened at a better time and we applaud the council for doing the right thing,” he said.
In 2007, it cost the state $80 million to provide policing to 89 municipalities that have been receiving state police patrol services for free, according to the state Department of Treasury. The department calculated a total local share of $12 million.
If approved, Upper Freehold would have been expected to pay $254,065, which would have raised the local tax rate almost 2 cents, officials said.
Mayor Alexander said the township’s issue was never about the quality and service of state police, but rather the injustice of state government to look at the 89 towns as a solution to a bigger problem.
”State police was created 87 years ago to have a uniform local enforcement patrol of rural towns, and for 87 years, Upper Freehold has lived up to its part of staying rural,” he said. “When half your town is in farm or open space preservation and you have less than 10,000 people, that’s a rural town.”
The mayor said he was always confident the end result would favor the municipalities, and praised officials who fought against the mandate.
Both Upper Freehold and Millstone townships, the two local towns under state police coverage, posted letters on their Web sites for residents to send to Gov. Jon Corzine expressing their dissatisfaction with the mandate and the detrimental effect it would have on local taxpayers.
Millstone Deputy Mayor Bob Kinsey said singling out rural communities was “just plain wrong.”
”The state never provided any budget or operational details to the municipalities with which to support or evaluate their claim of financial burden,” he said. “In my opinion, they exercised bad faith throughout the entire process.”
Millstone Township would have been expected to pay $348,152 for state police coverage, which officials said could have raised the township’s local tax rate by almost 3.5 cents.
Mr. Kinsey, an executive committee member of the New Jersey League of Municipalities State Police Task Force, called the decision a “huge win” for all municipalities throughout the state.
”In the end, the State Council on Local Mandates saw through (the state’s) ruse and sent a clear message…that it will not be allowed to circumvent and/or violate the state constitution by unilaterally and arbitrarily allocating state level budget costs to municipalities and unfairly taxing residents,” he said.
The deputy mayor added that if the council had accepted the state’s argument, the state would have then been able to begin imposing new charges to raise property taxes in order to fund other agencies of state government.

