The BRICK Times Vol. 24 - No. 35
MICROMEDIA PUBLICATIONS
In This Week’s Edition
JERSEYSHOREONLINE.COM
Salt, Trucks, And Workers Prepped For Winter’s Worst
BREAKING NEWS @
jerseyshoreonline.com
Government Page 5
Community News Page 6-9
Dr. Izzy’s Sound News Page 10
Inside The Law Page 12
Photos by Judy Smestad-Nunn The township has 1,500 tons of salt stored in two salt houses. By Judy Smestad-Nunn BRICK - Roads have only been plowed once in the past two years, in the winter of 2022, when there was more than four inches of snow, which is when the Department of Public Works (DPW) deploys their snowplows. The township has some 48 vehicles for plowing, which includes seven rear-loader garbage trucks that can have plows attached, said Superintendent of DPW Stephen Krakovsky. The automated trucks are not used for plowing, he added. “We pre-brine our salt with brine, we don’t
The Department of Public Works has 48 vehicles capable of plowing. brine roads,” he said. “As the salt is coming out of the truck it gets sprayed with brine as it’s going down the chute. We’re too big and too vast to brine roads - it’s a slower process since we have so many back-downs (dead end streets and (Winter Prep - See Page 4)
NJ Wants Input On School Funding By Chris Lundy JERSEY SHORE – The New Jersey Department of Education is asking the public to comment on the way state aid is distributed. There is a link to submit comments at the bottom of this page: nj.gov/education/sfra.shtml. All comments must be received by January 17.
impacted by cuts in school aid. The funding formula changed with a bill called S-2 in 2018. Toms River has lost millions of dollars and dozens of staff positions during the course of this process. In the last round of funding, aid dropped by $2,798,243 after years of cuts. Jackson lost millions ever y year as well. T he most recent cut was $4,459,769. That district had to sell a School Aid Impact school this year. Many local districts have been severely Lacey is another district facing a
crunch. Their most recent cut was $3,205,902. Officials put forward a $92 million referendum this spring for capital projects like roofing and HVAC. Barnegat, Little Egg Harbor, and Pinelands Regional all saw cuts in excess of $1 million for this year. Long Branch lost $10,401,402 this year, while Neptune Township lost $4,448,559. Part of the problem is that these cuts (School Funding - See Page 7)
January 4, 2025
$73.5M Beach Replenishment Project To Begin By Alyssa Riccardi OCEAN COUNTY – A major beach replenishment project that will take place across numerous shore towns is scheduled to begin in January, officials announced. “I am pleased that after several contracting delays, this long-awaited project to restore our beaches that have suffered considerable erosion over the past years is finally moving forward,” said Rep. Chris Smith (R-4th). In 2022, $30.2 million in federal funding from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act was secured to help critical beach replenishment for Jersey shore towns that have suffered serious beach erosion. Smith was one of just 13 Republicans who voted for the bill. “We have never let up on securing this long-overdue, unjustly delayed project,” Smith said. “That we have at last received a schedule with real target dates on it gives us great confidence that the desperately needed beach replenishment will finally take place and better protect our beach towns. “Our shore communities will benefit greatly from the federal assistance and partnership to address significant safety concerns from beach erosion and help blunt damaging effects of major storms,” Smith said. The project had faced several setbacks and was in jeopardy due to lack of federal funds. Smith secured the entire federal share - or about half of the $73.5 million total cost from the federal infrastructure bill passed by Congress. In October, the Army Corps of Engineers awarded the contract to Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Company of Houston, TX. The project consists of dredging and placing 2.1 million cubic yards of sand onto Ocean County beaches. The sand will be dredged from three separate approved borrow areas located offshore of the project area in the Atlantic Ocean. Furthermore, the sand will be pumped onto the beach and graded into an engineered template, which is designed to reduce damage from coastal storm events, according to officials. (Beach - See Page 4)
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