By Sunayana Prabhu
MIDDLETOWN – The township has officially filed a complaint against the State of New Jersey claiming unfunded mandates from a bail reform statute have created financial costs for Middletown that it feels should be borne by the state.
The complaint was filed with the New Jersey Council on Local Mandates. It claims the township has incurred an additional $325,391.17 in public safety costs this year because of the mandates. Unfunded mandates are regulations or other requirements imposed by a higher level of government on a lower one without providing any funding to cover the cost of compliance.
The township released a statement Feb. 15 saying this increased cost to municipalities will impact taxpayers during a time when it is critical to scale back spending.
Middletown Mayor Tony Perry said the township has had to allocate over $325,000 “to supplement these failed policies,” tying the bail reform to an increase in statewide auto thefts and other crimes. “While you cannot put a price tag on public safety, it should come at the cost of the state,” Perry said.
The complaint comes after a year of Perry and others calling for stricter bail reform to cut down on the surge in auto thefts in the region.
At his 2023 State of the State address, Gov. Phil Murphy said the administration has focused on growing the state police’s auto theft task force to bring down car theft, including $10 million invested in automated license plate recognition (ALPR) technology for local police to better track and trace the criminals and stolen cars. The addition of new detectives and prosecutors has provided the task force with a greater ability to investigate and disrupt car theft rings.
“These steps are already helping to bring down the numbers of car thefts,” Murphy said, noting that from September through December, car thefts were down 13% from the same four months of 2021.
The statement from the township claims that since the bail reform law took effect in January 2017, motor vehicle thefts and associated crimes have increased by 40% in the county, according to the Monmouth County Sheriff’s Office, and asserts that more than one-third of those arrested are repeat offenders. Middletown said it is “being forced to cover the extra costs to increase law enforcement patrols to protect residents effectively.”
“The Middletown Township Committee and I hope that other towns will jump onboard to support this complaint to ensure our voices are heard and fix this broken system,” Perry said in the release.
At its Jan. 17 meeting, the township committee unanimously passed a resolution to file the complaint.
The article originally appeared in the February 23 – March 1, 2023 print edition of The Two River Times.
