by Peter Geier, Special Writer
MILLSTONE — The township has been awarded an $18,900 state grant to help it, Upper Freehold and Roosevelt find ways to share their court and other municipal services and save money.
The Millstone grant award was among a total of more than $160,000 in Sharing Available Resources Efficiently grants statewide announced last week by the state Department of Community Affairs.
Millstone and Upper Freehold townships each will pitch in $1,000 which, along with the grant, will go to Government Strategy Group, a New Providence-based consulting firm hired in December to review their courts and other areas in which the three towns could share services, according to Millstone Administrator Jim Pickering.
Government Strategy Group’s study could take three to six months to complete, he said.
Millstone Mayor Nancy Grbelja said the grant application has been in the works for the last two years. Millstone and Upper Freehold both have experienced less revenue each year and rising expenses— particularly in their municipal courts.
Millstone’s court has seen increasing deficits in the last three years — $5,000 in 2006, $17,500 in 2007 and $37,000 last year, she said.
”With the reduction of state aid and the state talking about shared services in order to keep the tax rate down, while we continue to maintain (the level of services) we have, we have no choice but to look for ways to save money,” Mayor Grbelja said.
The Millstone mayor also said the town is trying to anticipate such things as “mandates coming down from the courts” requiring security upgrades such as bullet-proof glass shields for judges to sit behind.
”For a small municipality it’s too costly to do on our own,” she said. “We thought that if we could consolidate the courts, we could maybe save the township some money.”
Upper Freehold Mayor Steve Alexander enthusiastically agrees.
”We have a great relationship with the Millstone mayor and government and we thought it was a great idea,” he said. “They led the initiative, they were driving it, and we’re looking forward to it. We jumped at the chance when they suggested it.”
Mr. Pickering noted that there had also been a significant drop in the number of summonses issued from 2007 to 2008, which resulted in less revenue to the town.
Roosevelt has used Millstone’s town court for at least the last decade, and an “insignificant number” of traffic tickets are issued there annually, he added.
In 2007, Millstone’s court sent $386,094 to the state, retaining $159,345, its share of the total take. But last year, it sent $245,811 to the state, with its share being $139,112.
One reason the state gets a lion’s share of the traffic ticket money is that Millstone, like Upper Freehold and Roosevelt, does not have a police force. The State Police enforce traffic laws in the three towns. The only time the towns recover the full amount of a ticket is when it cites a township ordinance, Mr. Pickering explained.
Millstone already has several cost-sharing arrangements in place, Mr. Pickering said. The town uses the local school district’s building maintenance service and Upper Freehold’s animal-control service, while it does cooperative purchasing through Monmouth County, he said.

