City funds new beach equipment

City funds new beach equipment
BY KENNY WALTER Staff Writer

LONG BRANCH — The city will tap into funds earmarked for other projects to purchase and refurbish revenue-producing beach maintenance equipment.

The City Council decided at the Oct. 27 meeting, by a 4-0 vote, to re-appropriate $135,000 for beach equipment. Councilman Anthony Giordano was absent from the meeting.

Chief Financial Officer Ronald Mehlhorn Sr. explained where the money is going in an interview last week.

"We are buying two beach rakes and refurbishing one," he said. "We are buying two at $55,000 a piece and refurbishing one of the ones we have as a backup."

Mehlhorn said that the money was supposed to be used for a few projects that are no longer necessary.

"It was a piece of equipment for public works; part of it was for an acquisition of property to build a new school and a piece of it was for some kind of emergency radio station for $27,000," he said. "They just scrapped the whole plan."

At the council meeting residents criticized the fact that the rakes are being used for the beaches at local condominiums and in neighboring Monmouth Beach, but Mehlhorn said the profits outweigh the cost for the work.

"I got close to $20,000 from Monmouth Beach and the condos that we do," Mehlhorn said. "We netted about $13,000 out of that, after you account for the salaries [and] gas usage.

"This was a small part of the job. It was actually 228 hours of time for the entire season," he added.

Mehlhorn said that the city has come up with a good plan for working the out-oftown beaches where they do not have to use a lot of overtime.

"It is costing us something like $22 an hour to do the outside beaches," he said. "It seems to be a money maker.

"We netted about $13,000, which isn't

bad when you compare the amount they use the equipment to the amount of time we use the equipment," he added.

Mehlhorn said looking strictly at the work done on beaches outside of Long Branch, it would take 10

years to pay off two pieces of equipment.

"So if you look at over 10 years, we are taking in over $130,000," he said. "That would more than pay for a tractor and a beach rake."

Mehlhorn said that the next purchase for the city might be to replace a 10-year-old tractor.

"The tractors are the same thing; we are probably going to go for that soon," he said. "Each one is about $55,000.

"So over the 10 years this money will more than pay for a tractor and a beach rake," he added. "So we are more than getting our money's worth."

Mehlhorn also said that the city is not bonding new money; rather, using money it already has.

"I can't tell you how long it's going to take to pay off the $135,000," he said. "It doesn't exist by itself.

"I'm not bonding at all; it was bonding years ago and I'm reappropriating it," he added. "It's no longer needed for its original purpose."

Contact Kenny Walter at

kwalter@gmnews.com.