County Police Merger off due to Ticket Revenue from Bergen County Police
October 17,2012
the staff of the Ridgewod blog

Ridgewood NJ, On October 4th the Freeholders voted 3-2 against the county police merger ordinance . Democrat David Ganz joined Republicans Robert Hermansen and Maura DeNicola all voting against the measure. Republicans John Mitchell and John Felice supported it and Democrat Joan Voss and Republican John Driscoll abstaining.

While this action struck many readers as a classic to quote Senator John Kerry , “I was for it before I was against it.” . The vote as well as the entire episode left many readers scratching their heads .

Up till now the Republican Bergen Freeholders along with the County Executive Kathleen Donovan have been mostly taken flak from the media and local special interests for cost cutting . Given the propensity of the previously administration for unrestrained spending binges its been a good thing. Bergen formerly a business magnet is considered no longer viable as a place to do business given high costs and over regulation in the area .

So what is with all the changes in points of view or flip – flops for the county police merger? Sources inside the County claim that several of the Freeholders have been persuaded by what we all feared ,the enormous ticket revenue of the Bergen County Police Department. Without that revenue the County Budget would take a serious hit . It seems motor vehicle tickets issued by the County Police are a huge windfall for County coffers .

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