By NANETTE LoBIONDO GALLOWAY
The City of Margate and Longport Borough have agreed in part to share municipal court operations in Margate until Dec. 31, 2023, with an automatic one-year extension for 2024.
The Margate Board of Commissioners Oct. 6 approved a resolution finalizing the amended shared services agreement. Longport introduced the changes in an ordinance introduced on Sept. 21. A public hearing and a vote on adoption will be held on Oct. 19.
Court sessions for Longport cases will continue to be held at Margate's Historic City Hall at 1 S. Washington Ave. The agreement calls for the two municipalities to share the services of Margate's facility, municipal court administrator and an assistant if necessary. Each town will appoint and pay for their own judge, prosecutor and public defender.
Longport was paying $10,000 a month for a total of $120,000 a year to share the court with Margate for the year ending April 2022. A new rate schedule has Longport paying $10,200 a month for the period covering May 1 to Aug. 31, 2022, and $3,500 a month from Sept. 1, 2022, to Dec. 31, 2023. In 2024, the borough will pay $3,200 a month for a total yearly expenditure of $42,000.
Longport will have the option to opt out of extending the agreement into 2024 by notifying Margate in writing of its decision to leave the shared services agreement by October 2023, Borough Solicitor Michael Affanato said on Sept. 21 when Longport introduced the ordinance.
Margate Solicitor John Scott Abbott said Thursday that the court is providing superior services and the agreement is working out extremely well.
At least one person in Longport is dissatisfied with the borough's decision to forego joining the newly formed Atlantic County Central Municipal Court System, which was offered to Longport for a lower amount, about $42,000 a year in total. Cases are being heard at refurbished courtrooms at Historic Atlantic County Courthouse in Mays Landing, with minor cases held online. Participating communities include Corbin City, Egg Harbor Township, Estell Manor, Galloway Township, Hamilton Township, Linwood, Northfield, Port Republic, Ventnor and Weymouth Township.
Resident Bob English, who ran unsuccessfully in the Board of Commissioners election in 2020, said on Sept. 21 that he spoke with Atlantic County Counsel Jim Ferguson who admitted the new county court is having some growing pains, but assured him the county has hired additional resources and the court system would get better.
Whenever you start a new venture such as that, there are challenges with it, Longport Administrator A. Scott Porter said. The county is experiencing challenges of all types, a lot of which they anticipated. But there are always issues that you cannot anticipate and that continues to occur.
English said his issue with the agreement comes down to pricing, stating that the $3,500 being charged is not the all-in price, but rather, the total cost to Longport including the cost of professional salaries, is more like $80,000.
Why would you advocate spending 85-90% more for a service that while valuable is not lifesaving? he asked.
English said the commissioners should be embarrassed that Margate, when faced with competition from the county, cut their price by 65%.
If they can charge $3,500 a month for next year, they could have charged it last year, English said. They clearly took advantage of our relationship.
Commissioner of Public Safety Dan Lawler said English has made his thoughts on the issue known at every meeting he has attended over the last two years and that he would have another opportunity to speak at the public hearing being held on Oct. 19.
We get it. We feel now that the decision we made is right for the town, Lawler said.
Longport Mayor Nicholas Russo said most of the cases Longport sends to the court are Title 39 traffic violations.
The uniqueness here is that we do not have a large commercial district that would result in shoplifting cases, which are consistent with larger urban areas, he said.
However, the borough is concerned with code enforcement issues that might not stack up against the same type of issues in larger urban municipalities.
I'm afraid those types of violations would get lost in a larger system, and we have very strict zoning laws, he said. We will do it in Margate for another year-and-a-half and then we can reassess.
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