Holt, Pallone vote against debt ceiling raise
August 4, 2011New name, new drive for football and cheer program
August 4, 2011Originally published Aug. 4, 2011
By Neil Schulman
Sea Bright — When it comes to best practices, Sea Bright gets an “A” — which means it will also keep all its state aid next year, though that’s not an impressive figure.
At the August 2 Sea Bright Borough Council meeting, Michael Bascom, Chief Finance Officer for the Borough, said that he had completed a 50-question form from the New Jersey Division of Local Government Service.
These questions are designed to ensure that the boroughs are following what the state considers the “best practices.”
The questions range on a variety of topics, from making sure the municipal websites are up to date to ensuring the town looks at shared services. Unless a town does well enough, it can lose a portion of its state aid.
“The end result was the borough scored 44 yes out of 50,” Bascom said. Another four are not relevant to Sea Bright, and are therefore considered yes, for a final result of 44 out of 50, or 96 percent.
The two questions which received no answers were whether Sea Bright ensured each firefighter got an annual heart screening, and if they had held a public meeting with the local school board to discuss shared services in the last year.
Still, Bascom said that 96 is “well above” what’s required to keep the current level of state aid.
It won’t be a lot, though. This means in 2012, Sea Bright will get $3,760 in aid from New Jersey.