MONTGOMERY: Township may pass senior bus service to county

By Kristine Snodgrass, Staff Writer
   MONTGOMERY — Financial difficulties continued to be the focus of attention for the Township Committee at its meeting Thursday night, as it discussed handing over the township’s senior bus services to the county.
   The township has been struggling with cuts and layoffs over the past several months as it struggles to balance its 2009 budget. One of the ways the township is finding savings is through shared service agreements with the county.
   Township Administrator Donato Nieman said contracting the township’s bus service to Somerset County would save the township at least $40,000 a year in salaries, bus purchase and maintenance, and fuel costs, even after it pays the county $60,000 a year for the service.
   Township Recreation Director Karen Zimmerman said the transfer would improve the service the township currently offers senior citizens. They are picked up at their homes in the morning and brought to the Otto Kaufman Senior Center in Skillman, where they have lunch and participate in activities through a program run by the Somerset County Office on Aging, she said.
   About 100 senior citizens take advantage of the service per week, which has run for more than a decade, she said.
   The township also provides transportation two days a week for senior citizens to go to medical appointments, and once a week to go to the grocery store, she said.
   Mounting expenses have been driven in part by problems with the bus wheelchair lifts, which frequently break down, Mr. Nieman said.
   The township employs two bus drivers, one full time and one part time, Ms. Zimmerman said. The township owns two buses and a van for the service.
   Ms. Zimmerman said county officials said the township’s bus drivers would be encouraged to submit their applications to the county service if the transfer went forward.
   Also at the meeting, the committee approved an ordinance appropriating $125,000 toward the relocation of the municipal communications center to the Somerset County Office of Emergency Management.
   The shared service agreement, which has been in the works since last year, would save the township $600,000 a year, according officials. The appropriations are required for related facilities upgrades, including a security system for the municipal building.
   Deputy Mayor Cecilia Birge asked Capt. Robert Palmer to urge the county to move forward quickly. The township is planning to fund its own center, which staffs four dispatchers, through the end of June, but hoped the county would take over earlier, if possible.
   Capt. Palmer said that according to recent meetings between his department and the county, the process was moving along.
   ”I think they’re going to be ready fairly swiftly,” Capt. Palmer said.