Upgrades planned for 911 system
BY ELANA ARON
Correspondent

FREEHOLD TOWNSHIP - A resolution to appropriate funds for enhanced 911 equipment was passed at the Oct. 10 meeting of the Township Committee.

The grant, totaling almost $185,000, will be used to upgrade the police department's phone system for dispatch, according to information provided by the township.

Emergency calls made to the police department will no longer ring. Instead, police will receive instantaneous information such as the name, telephone number and address of the caller. A special feature will be a map of the location on a screen.

The new system is expected to be implemented in several months.

In other business, a resolution requesting relief from the municipal cap law was passed.

Since their institution in 1977 as part of the Property Tax Relief Fund, limits on local budgetary discretion contained within the local cap law have proved to be in need of amendment during periods of fiscal stress, according to information provided by the township.

The latest amendments to the cap law were enacted in 2004 as part of former Gov. James McGreevy's FAIR plan, which was supposed to provide short-term property tax relief which would lead to long-term tax reform.

The committee's resolution states that instead of tax reform, state policy makers have "consistently under-funded, cut and eliminated crucial property tax relief programs, thereby exacerbating the property tax crisis ... and that the Legislature has ... failed to advance the cause of property tax reform."

Of special concern to committee members is legislation that proposes to make permanent the now temporary cap exceptions for liability insurance, workers' compensation insurance and employee group insurance.

Although committee members say that the 2004 amendments are beneficial for "rational effective budgetary planning," the "cap banking" problems created by the FAIR plan will pose lasting and growing problems for municipalities trying to prepare for unanticipated situations.

"They're considering putting health care coverage in the cap," Township Administrator Tom Antus said. "It would be terrible to put it in."