OCEANPORT—The borough and neighboring Sea Bright are expected to continue an agreement to share municipal court services.
Oceanport Business Administrator John O. Bennett III said during the Aug. 20 Borough Council meeting that the borough and Sea Bright have reached an agreement to extend the shared service for an additional three years despite Sea Bright being courted by another municipality.
“Sea Bright had been approached by another town and was seriously considering leaving the shared-services agreement we have with them,” Bennett said.
“The business administrator came over and we were able to negotiate a deal that would lower what they pay now, but still result in a positive cash flow to [Oceanport] of $46,000.
“If we lost the money we would have a negative cash flow.”
According to Bennett, the new agreement while at a lower cost, will rise over the course of the three-year agreement.
“It also has never had a built-in escalator butitwouldnowhavea2percentescalator on an annual basis,” he said. “So we would gofrom$78,000to$73,500witha2percent increase on an annual basis and extend the contract for an additional three years.
“We give the increases to the employees every year but we are not getting any increases in the money so I thought I’d build in the 2 percent increase in what they pay us.”
The two municipalities first entered into the agreement in 2009 to share the Oceanport municipal court.
Since shortly after superstorm Sandy, Oceanport as well as Sea Bright, have used Shrewsbury Borough’s facilities in the absence of a municipal court.
In 2013 the borough entered into a threeyear agreement for the court with Shrewsbury and Bennett said he’d like to explore other court options when the deal expires in 2016.
“I would like to get that renegotiated because that is excessively expensive,” Bennett said. “That comes up to $1,500 for two days a month to use their court room with no additional services.
“When we have our own courtroom then we are really doing well.”
Bennett said he has approached Rumson about using the courtroom while a future location for Oceanport borough hall is secured, but that borough formed a partnership with another town.
He also said he has considered the courtroom at Fort Monmouth.
“I looked at that as a possibility, and in my opinion, it was just too damaged to be able to use it,” Bennett said. “I would like us to explore some other locations because $1,500 is a lot. I just need to find a partner.”
Bennett said all of the borough’s court expenses, which include salaries, benefits and all court maintenance and expenses, totaled $188,710 in 2014.
He said the revenues, which include fines derived from traffic tickets as well as payments made by Sea Bright, totaled $232,218 in 2014, netting the borough $49,000.
Bennett said maintaining the service with Sea Bright was imperative because the borough would still need the same amount of staff even without Sea Bright.
Under state law, the borough and Sea Bright can continue the shared services agreement until 2041, but can only extend the arrangement in three-year increments.