Township Council Taxes

New vehicles and equipment for the township police and public works departments, improvements to parks and upgrades in software and hardware systems highlighted the Township Council’s second 2021 budget hearing on March 10. The nearly three-hour session featured mostly capital improvement requests, the big-ticket items in the yearly spending plan. The township wants to spend $2 million on its continuing …

Spring is in the air, and young public works’ employees’ minds turn to filling potholes. The annual pothole repair program is underway, and township officials are asking for help from residents in finding them. A special page has been created on the township web site – located by clicking here – on which potholes and other street issues can be …

The Township Council held a virtual budget hearing on March 2. There were no shocks or surprises in the first hearing for the 2021 township budget, something for which township officials were thankful. The majority of the 18 or so departments that presented their funding asks were either flat from last year or had decreases. Some departments’ requests reflected a …

Contracts worth more than $120,000 were approved February 9 by the Township Council. The Council approved contracts to provide employee health services, and for maintenance for the township 9-1-1 system. A $30,000 contract for employee health services was awarded to Robert Wood Johnson Physician Enterprise P.A./Urgent Med of Philadelphia. According to the contract, services to be provided include Pre-Employment physicalsPromotional …

Township Councilman Will Galtieri announces that he will no longer pursue the proposed “Grandparents’ park” project at the virtual January 26 Township Council meeting. The push to build a pocket park on Willow Avenue formally ended on January 26, with Township Councilman Will Galtieri publicly pulling the plug on his brainchild. “I have heard you loud and clear and at …

Township Councilwoman Kimberly Francois said during the January 25 Redevelopment Agency meeting that the Council is “not going forward” on the proposed Grandparent’s Park project. A controversial plan to build a small park on Willow Avenue, near New Brunswick Road, appears to be dead, according to a comment made by a Township Councilwoman. Councilwoman Kimberly Francois (D-At Large) made the …

The Township Council heard from residents on January 12 during a virtual hearing involving a proposed park at Willow Avenue and New Brunswick Road. Residents opposed to a proposed “Grandparents’ Park” in Somerset spent more than two hours January 12 expressing their feelings about the plan to the Township Council. The Council held a special hearing on the plan, necessitated …

Getting almost non-existent response from East Franklin businesses to a COVID-19 relief grant program, the Township Council has decided to instead use the money to help township renters. Mayor Phil Kramer said at the November 24 virtual Township Council meeting that given that only one business owner applied for the special Coronavirus Aid Relief & Economic Security (CARES) Act grant, …

The township may temporarily absorb a nearly 7 percent rate increase from New Jersey American Water that has been approved by the state. But that won’t be indefinite, and at some point the increase will be passed on. Mayor Phil Kramer announced the 6.6 percent increase – approved by the state Board of Public Utilities – at the November 24 …

FTPD Lt. Kirsten Durham, foreground, settled her discrimination and harassment lawsuit against the township and police department for a bulk $300,000 payment and other considerations. (File photo.) The township has agreed to pay $300,000 to a Franklin Township Police lieutenant and keep her on paid administrative leave until mid-2021 to settle a discrimination and harassment lawsuit the lieutenant filed in …