By CRAIG D. SCHENCK/Sentinel staff
LINWOOD — City Council voted June 23 to join the centralized municipal court system being established in Atlantic County.
Northfield, which shares a court with Linwood, was expected to follow during a special meeting the next day, but after meeting for about 45 minutes in executive session, took no action.
Mayor Erland Chau said Northfield City Council received a proposal from Hammonton to form a combined court.
“We were prepared to vote and go into the county system,” Chau said. “Hammonton made an offer and the price is much lower, but a lot of questions were raised that could not be answered.”
He said City Council will look at all of its options and make a decision, possibly at its next meeting scheduled for 6 p.m. July 13.
Chau said he doesn’t think Hammonton’s offer is a great deal but council will have to make the decision.
“Hopefully they will make a decision shortly,” he said, noting that most of the 23 municipalities in the county are watching to see what everyone else is doing.
“Nobody can get a fixed price until they know how many are involved,” Chau said.
Linwood joins a slowly growing group of municipalities that have gotten on board with the plan proposed by county Executive Dennis Levinson, who sees a centralized court system as a way to eliminate redundancies and provide a better product for less money.
Both governing bodies have been open to shared services as a way to cut costs, having shared a police chief for some time and a court system for longer. They also share EMS.
City officials from both towns were in talks with Hamilton Township to create a combined court and would have saved between $70,000 and $80,000 each if they had done so. That deal even went as far as to be on the June 9 City Council agenda in Linwood before it was tabled.
That happened after the Assembly Judiciary Committee unanimously approved a measure earlier in the day that would make it legal to operate a combined municipal court with the county as the lead agency. A week later, both houses of the Legislature approved the measure and sent it to Gov. Phil Murphy for his signature.
Atlantic County Counsel Jim Ferguson and retired Superior Court Judge Mark Sandson toured the county over the past couple of months in support of the proposal.
They said the benefits include increased accessibility, better allotment of local resources and uniformity of justice, as well access to and availability of social service agencies including experts in mental health, addiction and domestic violence.
“It’s going to be something that is going to save us a substantial amount of money,” Linwood City Council President Ralph Paolone said, adding that he likes the drug court aspect and other social services that are part of the proposal.
Mayor Darren Matik said the plan makes financial sense for Linwood, adding that he hopes the city’s court employees will be asked to join the county system.
“We have to look at our residents and the tax rate and do everything we can to lower that,” Matik said. “I think it’s going to be something that almost everybody should embrace.”
Levinson has said that at least 10 municipalities would need to participate to make the plan financially feasible. In a statement to The Sentinel last week, Levinson said Ventnor, Egg Harbor Township, Galloway Township, Estell Manor and Weymouth Township are committed. Additionally, Somers Point, Hamilton Township and Mullica Township are reviewing the numbers and are potential participants, he said.
Somers Point City Council voted May 13 not to take part. Council President Janice Johnston said at the time there were too many uncertainties, including whether enough municipalities would join to make it feasible and whether the proposal would actually come to fruition by Dec. 31.
Johnston later said the city had been asked to reconsider, and the matter was discussed June 24. Reached after the meeting, Johnston said the city still is not comfortable committing to the proposal.
“There are too many uncertainties for us to commit at this time,” she said.
The financial commitment of every municipality depends on the number of others involved, which remains unclear. Johnston said the county has not created a budget for the court, preventing the city from budgeting for its share. She also said that if the budget is not met, the participating municipalities would be on the hook for the remainder.
She also said city police officers attend court during their regular shift, not overtime, and that they are contractually paid for a minimum of two hours. Both issues complicate joining the county system, Johnston said.
“That was the biggest factor, a lot of uncertainties. They are basing current numbers on 11 towns committing. If we commit and they only get eight, obviously those numbers are going to change dramatically,” she said.
Johnston also said the city has two court employees and would have to keep at least one, leaving the other to find employment elsewhere.
She said the city could join the combined court any time so the city is more comfortable waiting to see what happens.
“Once we disband our court, how do we put it back in the budget?” Johnston said.