MARLBORO – In the hope of cutting costs and saving some money, Mayor Jonathan Hornik and members of the Township Council spoke with the Board of Education about shared services at a special workshop meeting on Jan. 29.
Hornik, council Vice President Steve Rosenthal, Councilman Frank LaRocca and Councilwoman Randi Marder met with school boardmembers and local legislators.
Superintendent of Schools DavidAbbott said there are a lot of shared services going on between themunicipality and theMarlboro K-8 School District that are not generally known by members of the public.
“If there’s a storm and we can’t move the snow because our plows are not big enough, the town will help us,”Abbott said, offering an example of current shared serv- ices. He recalled a time during a past municipal administration when the school district needed a paver.
It was explained that the school bus garage was in need of repaving and the township allowed the school district to use its paver. Abbott explained that the school district paid for all the materials used and any extra work, but he said people saw that happening and went to the council to complain.
“We are very willing to look at every opportunity to save dollars wherever we can,” Abbott said.
“We should look through every single item that we could give you, one extra thing, a couple extra things above where you are getting outsourced, we will save tax dollars,” Hornik said, noting that there is no alternative. “We are in the budget process now and I have to tell you it’s painful. It’s painful right now looking at
things and we’re thinking of different
ways.”
The mayor invited school district Business Administrator
Cindy Barr-Rague
to examine the shared
services issue and she
said she would be glad to
do so.
“I’m glad to hear the
prior administration was helpful but you really have an open book here, anything we can do to help,” Hornik told the school representatives.
Board President Terry Spilken responded, saying, “It is extremely important for us to hear that because with the cooperation of council and the mayor there are so many things that can benefit the community. It’s kind of silly for us to be working against each other, we should be working together and it’s great to hear that is what we hopefully will be doing in the future.”
Hornik said he met with Manalapan Mayor Michelle Roth to discuss sharing services between municipalities. He said Marlboro has a line drawing truck that sits idle while Manalapan hires a private contractor to do that work when it is needed.
“I told Mayor Roth I would give her our truck with our people at a 10 percent discount. She said that is something she will be taking back to her people,” Hornik said.
In considering another possible shared service with Manalapan, Hornik said that in 2009 the state Department of Environmental Protection is going to require waste water from the washing of vehicles to be disposed of in a proper way.
Hornik saidManalapan has a facility to dispose of the waste water and said the possibility of allowing Marlboro to use the Manalapan facility was discussed. This potential shared service could save Marlboro fromhaving to build its own facility to handle waste water, the mayor said.