Engineer Brings Good News to Council; Borough Garage May Come In Under Budget

Candace Braun

The structure for the new Borough Garage should be completely erected by January 2, and the project may come in under budget, said Borough Engineer Carl Peters at a Borough Council meeting on Tuesday, December 23.

At Mayor Marvin Reed's last meeting officiating over the Council, good news was received on several accounts.

Along with the garage, Mayor Reed announced that the expansion of the Elm Court senior housing will now go through, thanks to the needed federal funding finally being delivered. The 68-unit expansion off Elm Road will now be fully funded, with money to spare, he said.

"It was another big achievement of 2003," said Mayor Reed.

Other welcomed money came to the Borough this year from the new Berlind Theatre.

Approximately $19,000 in revenues was granted to the Borough this year, which should increase to a potential $60,000 next year when the theatre has been open one full year, said the mayor.

Additional expenditures approved by a 4-0 vote for the garage on Tuesday will raise the cost of the project by approximately $207,000. Council members David Goldfarb and Joseph O'Neill were absent from the meeting.

This money will be used for construction of a trash enclosure ($67,000), additional sheeting and shoring ($73,000), weekend overtime by workers to complete the garage erection on time ($33,000), and additional architectural services ($22,000).

However, despite these costs, both the mayor and borough engineer said they feel the project is turning out to be close to the expected cost.

"We're in pretty good shape," said Mayor Reed, comparing the project to the recent construction of the new Township municipal building and the construction of Princeton Regional Schools, which have both struggled to stay within their means this year.

The Borough is "doing extremely well," he added.

Using leftover contingency money to pay for Borough staff overtime, rather than taking the money from the Borough's regular budget, should be pondered by the Council, said Mayor Reed.

The mayor also announced that the new Park-and-Shop Garage, which will add 500 parking spaces to the Borough, has changed its planned parking system to make paying easier for drivers. The parking machine will now allow residents to pay for their parking directly by use of a drive-through machine.

Drivers can either use a Smart Card, which is a debit card system being instituted by the Borough, or through the use of a credit card.