MORRISTOWN -- The town council approved a resolution Tuesday night executing an agreement to have Morris County provide all of its emergency dispatches starting next year, saving the town an estimated $1.6 million over the next five years, based on officials’ estimates.
Mayor Timothy Dougherty and other town officials said that the move would be more efficient and save the town a significant amount of money because it would not be required to spend as much money on a new digital radio dispatch system, as required by federal mandate.
Police and fire officials endorsed the agreement, which would go into effect on April 1 of next year and continue through December 31, 2015.“This is the way municipalities are moving,” Dougherty said.
The council voted 4-0 in favor of executing the contract.
Town administrator Michael Rogers said the town would save about $200,000 a year in pensions, benefits and salaries. And while the town would still spend a planned $429,000 for digital radio equipment, he said, it would save $600,000 on other equipment that was going to be part of the modernization.
Rogers told the council that the town’s three dispatchers might get a job working for the county dispatch system. He said another police officer presently assigned to dispatch would be freed to do other jobs.
“The police officer will go out and do what he was hired to do,” Rogers said.
