Bayonne will receive $140,000 to help off set the effects of funding homeland security.
The funds will come from a $32 million statewide tax relief program called the Homeland Security Police Assistance Aid Program.
The program was created by Gov. James McGreevey in an effort to further reduce property taxes for municipalities. The program is administered through the Department of Community Affairs’ Division of Local Government Services in order to offset some of the costs municipalities incur due to increased security concerns.
State Sen. and Bayonne Mayor Joseph V. Doria, Jr., said he had received word of the grant by way of letter from DCA Commissioner Susan Bass Levin.
Since terrorists can strike almost anywhere, state officials believe good homeland security starts with the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, many municipalities cannot afford the cost of supplying local law enforcement with additional training. The state, hoping to offset the impact of such costs on the taxpayers, has issued grants to towns based on their budgets.
Municipalities will receive amounts ranging from $25,000 to $140,000
Part of the $1.8 billion in municipal property relief is for this year’s budget,this aid recognizes that local officials have spent precious local property tax dollars to meet homeland security police needs,” Bass Levin said. “This aid must be used as direct property relief as an offset to that local spending.”
Bayonne, being a harbor city and surrounded on three sides by water, falls under new federal security regulations that were to be implemented on July 1. Although many of the security issues involving the cruise ships docking at the Peninsula at Bayonne Harbor have been taken on by Royal Caribbean, the new regulations also cover fuel depots and refineries located near harbor facilities. Since Bayonne has significant storage tanks located near the port facilities, the city will have to beef up patrols in critical area.
This state aid will help the city of Bayonne cover some of the overtime costs generated by extra police patrols,” Doria said. “We will continue to be vigilant and to take whatever steps are necessary to maintain security.”
Doria expressed gratitude to Bass Levin for providing Bayonne’s taxpayers with welcome assistance.
“Howeve, it is not enough to meet the extra security cost brought about by the heightened state of alert since September 11, 2001,” he said. “Hopefully, we will receive more such homeland security grants in the future.”