BRICK – Why is the township recycling center cutting back on the hours it is open?
Mayor Lisa Crate explained the cost-cutting measure during a recent Township Council meeting after she had received a number of calls and emails from residents.
The recycling center, also known as “The Hill,” located on Ridge Road, has been open Monday-Saturday, but going forward it will be open Monday through Friday as usual, but only open one Saturday a month.
Crate said there’s a public impression that “we made this rash decision and…we didn’t have any thought put behind it and that there was no conversation and that Public Works is being targeted,” she said. “And that is not the case at all.”
She said the administration had conversations over the course of several weeks based on the desire and need to be fiscally responsible.
The mayor said that due to the continued “exponential rise” in the cost of everything from utilities to paper, the administration held meetings with every department head and asked them to look closely at their capital budget and try to find something “they don’t have to have this year.”
The result was cuts to the capital budget that leaves the township “heading into 2027 strong.”
Department heads were also asked to look at their operating budgets. “The ask was 10 per cent from now until the end of the year,” the mayor said. “We wanted everyone’s assistance with this, and every single department came back with their 10 percent cut that they knew they could live with.”
The Department of Public Works (DPW) decided that closing the recycling center for three Saturdays a month would be the best way to cut their 10 percent without compromising safety, since they are responsible for the maintenance of all township vehicles, including police vehicles, Mayor Crate said.
“Cutting that part of the budget was really not an option for them because we need to make sure that our vehicles are safe for everyone, not just the people driving them but for everyone that surrounds us on the roadway,” she said.
Crate said that the county recycling center remains open every Saturday, which is another option for residents.
“The Northern Ocean County recycling center is open for more hours than we are, and they accept more items than we do in Brick Township, and if you live on the south side of town, it’s actually closer,” she said.
Going forward, the township recycling center is going to do a better job of monitoring who is dropping off items and how often, since the township has to pay tipping fees at the landfill, which have also increased, she said.
Also, a code, which has heretofore not been enforced, limits residents to 12 drop-offs per year and 12 bulk pickups per year. The Brick Times visited the recycling center after this meeting and learned that the drop-offs were already being counted.
During the portion of the meeting where the council members speak about any topic, Councilman Gregory J. Cohen said that Brick Township is in a “financial mess,” after every Democrat “insisted that this was a good budget.” Cohen is a Republican, which is the minority vote on the council.
He said 10 percent reductions would result in “slower services and frustrated residents…the numbers don’t work and the money simply isn’t there; this is not a good budget.”
Cohen said there are no Republicans on the Finance Committee, and he demanded a “full and transparent plan” from the Mayor, from the Council President and from the head of the Finance Committee on how to fix the budget deficit to keep the town solvent “without forcing a referendum on our taxpayers and without cutting services.”
The next Council Meeting will be on Tuesday, August 18 at 7 p.m.
