David Kilby, Managing Editor
CRANBURY — The township’s ticket revenue has decreased about $65,000 since it began sharing court services with Plainsboro four years ago, but the Township Committee believes the decrease is due to the decrease in officers in the township and not due to the cost of the shared service.
”The court agreement operates on a pure revenue transfer basis, which means that Plainsboro does not charge Cranbury any fees, and in return for providing court services, they retain any ticket revenue,” said Cranbury Township Committeeman James Taylor, liaison to the court.
He said, “The sole exception is related to DUI and DWI charges that result in a guilty verdict and fine. In that case, a percentage is returned to Cranbury by state statute for the purchase of body armor. Further, there is a misconception that tickets on the Turnpike return revenue as well to Plainsboro. That is not the case. It is important to note that any tickets issued by the State Police on the Turnpike have that revenue returned to the state. Municipalities cannot retain that revenue locally. This was confirmed last year during our review process.”
At the committee meeting Monday, Mr. Taylor went over the ticket revenue Cranbury has had since beginning shared services with Plainsboro in 2008. In 2008, the Police Department had 19 officers and ticket revenue was $228,000.
In 2009, the Police Department had 19 officers for part of the year, and ticket revenue dropped to $192,000. In 2010, the township decreased the number of officers to 18, and ticket revenue fell to $176,000. In 2011, Cranbury decreased the number of officers to 17, and ticket revenue fell to $163,000.
In February 2011, the committee approached the court to determine the operational costs of the court and where Cranbury’s ticket revenue stood in relation to those costs. The court provided a line item accounting that showed the total court cost was $726,853.13 of which Cranbury’s portion was $265,301.39.
”We have approached them again this year and are awaiting the final year-end numbers,” Mr. Taylor said. “When we look at the cost breakdown, the majority of that expense, $239,409, is related to salary and benefits. The employee positions are state mandated.
”Further, our agreement with the Plainsboro court allows us to keep officers on the road. They schedule court appearances based upon when the issuing officer is on duty, and the officer will only need to appear if the person contests the ticket. In that case, we are alerted when the case will be heard so we do not have to have an officer sitting in court the whole day waiting.”
He said police are vigilant in patrolling the streets and doing their best to reduce not only speeding, but other issues related to street patrols.
”We have found stolen vehicles, continue to find individuals with outstanding warrants on a monthly basis (five just last month), and, in fact, tickets only make up a small portion of the summons we generate, which highlights the safety issues the officers and the town faces by having the Turnpike and 130 coming through the town and being in close proximity to some other areas,” he said.
In 2011, Cranbury issued 1,641 summonses as a result of traffic stops and 325 tickets for speeding.

