SOUTH TOMS RIVER – South Toms River and Beachwood will share a grant that will lead to the two towns sharing a street sweeper.
Large vehicles like that cost six figures, which is a bigger hit on a small town budget. Therefore, officials said they were trying to figure out a way to obtain the sweeper without the taxpayers feeling the burden.
The towns jointly applied for, and received, a $299,242.50 grant from the Local Efficiency Achievement Program. LEAP is processed through the State Department of Community Affairs. It provides direct money to incentivize shared services in an effort to encourage towns to streamline their government.
South Toms River Mayor Oscar Cradle said “We are very grateful for the State of New Jersey to assist municipalities in a creative way, allowing us to provide a service to our residents that otherwise would be too costly for a budget of our size. Not only did the state provide funding for us but it also provided us with the opportunity to get to work with our neighbors in Beachwood. They were a fantastic group to work with and we hope for future opportunities to work together to better our communities.”
The state will provide funding for 75% of a project up to $400,000 as long as that project is a shared service between two or more municipalities. This means that the towns will split the remaining 25% of the cost, and then share the use of the street sweeper.
South Toms River Councilman Sam Fennell, who chairs the Department of Public Works Committee, said “The Borough of South Toms River has not had a street sweeper since the early 2000s. It is very difficult and very costly for a town our size to be able to operate and maintain our own street sweeper. This grant provided us with the ability to work with Beachwood and provide residents with a street cleaning service that will run once a week allowing us to clean the whole borough within a month.”
