L.B. applies for $60K state grant

L.B. applies for $60K state grant
Funds go toward salaries for two patrolmen
BY KENNY WALTER Staff Writer

LONG BRANCH — In what has become a spring tradition, the Long Branch City Council authorized an application for a $60,000 state grant that bolsters police presence on the streets.

The Safe & Secure Communities Program grant is administered by the State of New Jersey’s Department of Law and Public Safety Division of Criminal Justice and will be used toward the salaries of two patrolmen.

The council voted 4-0 to authorize the resolution for the grant application at the May 12 meeting. Councilman David Brown was absent for the vote.

Long Branch Director of Finance Ron Mehlhorn Sr. explained that the city’s application for the grant is generally approved.

“We’ve been getting this for a long time,” he said. “It used to be Safe and Clean Streets years ago.

“It’s been around for a long time. I think they sent us a notice that said we are getting the $60,000.”

Mehlhorn explained that in recent years the funding had dropped, but it is back up this year.

“It is back up to $60,000 … the last two years they reduced it to $52,000 and change and now they are back up to full strength.”

Mehlhorn explained what the grant would be used for.

“It helps support two police officers on the street,” he said. “It helps pay for their salaries. It is $30,000 apiece, and these guys are making like $99,000,” he added.

Alphonse Muolo, director of public safety, explained how the police use the grant funds.

“This grant has been in place for as long as they’ve been on the force, and it pays $60,000 toward their salaries,” he said. “Fifteen years ago that was a lot more substantial than it is today, as far as their salaries go.”

Muolo described the two officers whose jobs are partially funded by the grant.

“These two officers happen to be bilingual,” he said. “One happens to be very aggressive as far as traffic laws and is also bilingual Korean.

“That has come in handy a couple of times and we have been tapped on the shoulder by other agencies a couple of times to do Korean interpretations,” he added. “The other one happens to be bilingual and he handles a lot of cases for us as far as interpretation, which is real important in a city like Long Branch as far as Spanish-speaking [interpretation] is concerned.”

Mehlhorn said that the city usually has to amend the budget to include the grant money,

“We usually get the notice that we are getting the grant after the budget is adopted and we add it to the budget,” he said. “So it’s not normally here by the time we are doing the budget.

“It is one of those deals where it comes through as of June 1,” he added. “If we amend the budget I’ll probably throw it in there; if not, after we adopt it we will add it by a resolution at the next meeting.”

Contact Kenny Walter at

kwalter@gmnews.com.