Upper Freehold and Millstone aren’t the only area towns looking into the feasibility of merging court systems to save precious funding.

   The mayors of Allentown and Robbinsville recently met with state officials in an effort to share services beyond county lines with the possibility of a regional courthouse many towns might use.

   As a result of those talks with state Assemblymen Ron Dancer and Joseph Malone, there is now proposed state legislation to amend current law.

   ”We are sponsoring legislation that would permit two contiguous municipalities in different counties, or court vicinages, to share services,” said Mr. Dancer, who also is Plumsted’s mayor. “The purpose is to encourage shared services to ultimately have more cost-effective delivery to save the taxpayers money.”

   Mr. Dancer explained towns are restricted to sharing court services within the same county, even if two towns from different counties are closer to each other than either is to another town in the same county.

   ”This is common-sense legislation,” he said. “Instead of thinking parochially, we need to think regionally.”

   Faced with dwindling state aid and a rejection from the federal government for funding to hire new police officers, Allentown Mayor Stu Fierstein said in September that he would seek supplemental coverage from state police. He explained Allentown’s police force had dropped from six to four late last year as a result of attrition, and said “police overtime is killing us.”

   The request for state police assistance, he now says, was met with a “you’re on your own” response when the borough attorney contacted state police. A spokesman for the state police did not respond to a request for comment for this story.

   Despite that rejection, Mayor Fierstein says he’s still trying to get federal aid for police through Sen. Robert Menendez.

   Moreover, he said, consolidating court services could be another important way of addressing the financial issue.

   ”I looked at 2008 Allentown Municipal Court revenue, and only 36 percent of it stays in Allentown,” he said. “If I take the police hours related to court (appearances) and prisoner transportation, that (36 percent) is not covering our costs.”

   Robbinsville Mayor Fried confirmed he is investigating sharing court services with Allentown and said he broached the idea of having a regional courthouse possibly built on Route 539 that could serve many towns such as Hightstown, Upper Freehold and Millstone.

   ”We’re in trailers right now so Robbinsville is interested in sharing court services,” he said. “Because we’re in different counties shouldn’t matter. The state should come out in a strong fashion and encourage shared services between municipalities even in different counties.”

   The talks, he and Mr. Dancer said, also have involved the state Department of Community Affairs, and Mr. Fried and Mr. Dancer said they came away with some optimism the state approves of the idea.

   ”We met with the DCA commissioner three to four weeks ago,” Mr. Dancer said, referring to acting Commissioner Charles Richman. “We had every indication from that meeting that DCA is favorable, and that this is consistent with its support of sharing services.”

   DCA spokeswoman Lisa Ryan confirmed Monday that the DCA continues to support shared services.

   ”We have high hopes that the cross-county issue can be overcome and we plan on meeting with the judiciary on the topic,” she added.

   Mr. Dancer said the proposed bill has been referred to the Assembly Judiciary Committee, and he is “very hopeful” of getting approval during the lame-duck session after Election Day and before the January swearing-in ceremonies.

   ”I hope this will be in effect for the beginning of the year,” he added.

   He said Allentown is in a “very unique” situation — being “totally built out” and unable to generate new tax ratables — that cries out for such help.

   ”Those owners of property need relief,” he said.

   He also acknowledged Plumsted could benefit.

   ”That is something we would also want to consider,” he said.

   A consultant was hired early this year, through a state grant, to study the merits of merging the court systems of Upper Freehold and Millstone. Leaders in those towns indicated last month that study is essentially complete, and they plan to discuss it this month.

Matt Chiappardi of The Packet Group contributed to this story.