Robbinsville-Hightstown Shared Police & Court Building Agreement

Robbinsville Township, Hightstown Borough Enter Into a Historic Shared Services Agreement to Build New Police & Court Building

“Making sure our respective police departments and shared municipal court have the best facilities and every tool possible to perform their duties to the best of their abilities is of paramount importance to both Mayor Quattrone and all of us here in Robbinsville,” Robbinsville Mayor and Director of Public Safety Dave Fried said. “This is a historic agreement between two neighbors which have the utmost respect for each other and their constituents.”

The shared services agreement is for an initial term of 50 years, with a mutual option to extend the agreement for an additional 50 years. Each municipality will pay its share of the costs to construct the facility (approximately $9.8 million) based upon each municipality’s proportional use of the facility’s square footage. The municipalities will share utility costs in the same proportion as the construction costs, with Robbinsville accounting for approximately 68 percent and Hightstown Boro ultimately coming in at approximately 32 percent.

The Robbinsville and Hightstown Police Departments will each occupy their own dedicated space within the new facility and remain separate and distinct departments. Additionally, the Hightstown Police Department will operate a sub-station located in the new municipal complex building at 230 Mercer Street in Hightstown and will continue to maintain the same 24/7 police coverage within the Borough of Hightstown that it currently provides.

“We have shared our court and jail cells with Robbinsville for several years, so expanding the partnership further by sharing a police station is a natural fit,” Hightstown Mayor Quattrone said. “Not only do our hardworking police benefit from the new state-of-the-art facilities, but our residents will continue to receive the same response and dedicated service from the officers they respect and love.”

The Robbinsville and Hightstown Municipal Courts will continue to operate in the new facility under its existing agreement to share facilities, employees, equipment and supplies. This new shared services agreement will not change each municipality’s status as separate and distinct municipal courts.

Construction is expected to take approximately 12 months.

"Because the supply chain is so broken, we’re looking at potentially an expansion of about 30% percent of (original) cost (estimate)," Mayor Fried said in an interview with the Robbinsville Advance in March, 2022. "I don’t really want to spend 30% more of our taxpayers' money than we need to. I believe there’s going to be a number of grants coming down the pike, and certainly we want to be in a position to be able to take advantage of those grants when they become available. Our strategy right now is to be ready to go as soon as the supply chain settles down and we understand what grants are available. If I had to guess, maybe spring of (2023) we will actually start construction."

-RT-