Politics & Government

Parks and Forestry Budget Includes New Dump Trucks, Upgraded Bathrooms

Operating budget down from $586K to $450K.

The Parks and Forestry Department was able to cut back on some expenses this year, but there will still be some upgrades and new equipment.

At Saturday's municipal budget session, Parks and Forestry Superintendent Jim Walsh said the department needed two new dump trucks, costing $58,000 each. The bodies of the old ones, purchased in the mid-1990s, are rotting away, he said.

The bathroom partitions throughout all state parks will also be refurbished. The present ones, made of plywood and steel, aren't holding up well and it's hard to remove graffiti from them, Walsh said.

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They will be replaced with new ones made of polymer. The money will come out of the township's open space trust fund, which is held in reserve for capital improvement projects within the park system, Walsh said.

He said that his department was able to reduce the operating budget from $586,000 to $450,000 by cutting down on things like fertilizer and holding off on some equipment purchases.

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The total budget, including salaries for 29 employees is $1.9 million, Walsh said.


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