Taxes

More than $135,000 in purchases and leases were approved Sept. 10 by the Township Council. Topping the council’s shopping list was $59,000 for Panasonic Toughbook in-car computers and $18,727.80 for two Zero-Turn mowers.

The Somerset County Freeholders are seeking bids for 102 trees to be planted this fall in various parks around the county, 11 of which are earmarked for Franklin. In its bid request, the county is asking for six trees for Spooky Brook Golf Course and five trees for Colonial Park, both in Somerset.

Somerset County is preparing to replace one of its bridges on Bennetts Lane, work that will close a portion of the road for about four months. The bridge, which has been declared “structurally deficient” and “functionally obsolete,” is located less than a mile north of Route 27, and spans an unnamed tributary of the Six Mile Run.

A South Middlebush Road dairy farmer is once again farming a plot at Mettlers and Weston roads. Bob Puskas, of Middlebsh Farms, was the winning bidder of the lease to the 40-acre, county owned plot. Puskas’ winning bid of $495 a year for each of the next five years – starting Jan.1 – won’t boost the county’s coffers much, but …

Teachers are busy getting their classrooms ready in the 12 new portable units in place throughout the school district. The portables, which have been leased for five years at a cost of about $3 million, are needed to handle overcrowding in the schools, said schools Superintendent Edward Seto.

County parks officials are reviewing four bids for a new, 40-foot pavilion, slated for Colonial Park.

Could township police one day “predict” where crime is going to happen? Representatives from PredPol, the company that has developed software it claims can predict crime, have met with several township officials and others, including Chief of Police Lawrence W. Roberts, have viewed a Web-based presentation on the product.

Backyard composting workshops for county residents are set for 10-11:30 a.m. and 6:30-8 p.m. Sept. 12 in conference room “B” of the Somerset County Emergency Services Training Academy, 402 Roycefield Rd. Hillsborough. Participants will learn how to compost kitchen and yard debris into a “black gold” organic material for use in the yard, garden and for houseplants, according to a …

The next hazardous waste drop-off for Somerset County residents is set for 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sept. 14 at the Branchburg Township Public Works garage, 34 Kenbury Rd. in the township. Household hazardous waste includes banned or outdated pesticides, antifreeze, transmission fluids, brake fluids, wet cell car batteries, motor oil (2-gallon maximum), ammonia-based cleaners, gasoline, kerosene, oil-based paints, pool …

Relief is on tap for residents of Little Rocky Hill, now that the Township Council has taken the first steps in replacing the Route 27 water main. The council at its August meeting introduced a $210,000 ordinance for engineering work for the new main, and passed a resolution giving that engineering work to Hatch Mott MacDonald.