Bus stops established
BY REBECCA MORTON Staff Writer

MARLBORO - The Township Council, at its final meeting of 2007, passed a resolution authorizing the addition of bus stops along the Route 9 north corridor and along the Route 79 north corridor.

Along Route 9 north the added bus stops will be:

• at the jughandle (across from Covered Bridge) in front of building No. 480 (existing structure);

• 75 feet north of Willow Road (existing structure);

• southside on Route 9 north intersecting with Route 520 (existing structure);

• on/off ramp at Union Hill Road (existing structure);

• entrance at Regal Shopping Plaza (existing structure);

• and Union Hill Road Park and Ride (existing structure).

Along Route 79 north the added bus stops will be:

• 75 feet north of Newton Street (existing structure);

• and 75 feet north of Inverness Drive (proposed shelter).

Business Administrator Judy Tiernan said the shelters will have advertisements on the sides and said Marlboro will receive a portion of the income generated by the ads.

It was stated that Marlboro officials would not have to pay for the construction or replacement of any new bus shelter.

The following resolution that evening allowed the business administrator to advertise for open competitive bids for the replacement of existing bus shelters. The bids are expected to be received sometime in January.

In other business at the Dec. 17 meeting, the township's tax assessor and tax collector expressed their concerns over a resolution on the agenda concerning new computer software for their offices.

According to the resolution, Marlboro would enter into a partnership with Monmouth County to provide MOD IV services with the intention that the services will provide Computer Assisted Mass Appraisal (CAMA) software containing details of each property as well as "costing tables" used to estimate the value of each component.

The cost of the CAMA conversion from the Vital system currently used by the township to the new Microsystems is $14,131, a one-time conversion fee. The MOD IV service fee for 2008 is $5,288. The amount authorized for the tax assessor's office is $19,359.

In explaining the need for the switch of software, Chief Financial Officer Ulrich Steinberg said the current system used, Vital, is an off-site service provider. He said having an off-site provider was more costly and was a loss of control for the township.

Steinberg said Marlboro would pay about $45,000 this year for the use of Vital, where with Microsystems the township would pay about $10,000 for the year.

He also explained that Microsystems would be compatible with new state software, while Vital would not be.

Tiernan also noted that the requests for proposal (RFP) received by the township for the upcoming revaluation of all properties in Marlboro were higher when the township was using Vital. She said when the new RFPs came in with the possible change to Microsystems the bids decreased in price.

Tax assessor Walter Kosul did not want the change in systems, explaining that the staff has worked well with Vital over the years. Kosul wanted to know why the item had been put on that night's agenda and not a future one.

Tiernan explained that the Monmouth County Tax Assessor's office had said that Dec. 31 would be the time to do the switch.

For the tax collector's office the software will be purchased from MSI of Stroudsburg, Pa. for an amount not to exceed $14,120.

Tax collector Shirley Giaquinto said she is not against a new software system, but said she wanted time to research what other programs were available.

In the end the council members approved the resolutions as the savings would be near $35,000 for the township.

Council President Jeff Cantor assured the tax office employees that a training period would be set up for them to learn the new software.