Borough May Share Animal Control Services With Area Towns

In an effort to save money, New Providence may be entering into an agreement with area towns to share animal control services.

At the council meeting on Monday, Borough Administrator Doug Marvin said he recently spoke with the administrator in Millburn about sharing their animal control services, which is offered at a rate of $43.05 per hour. Other towns interested in, or already involved with, the service include Chatham Township, Springfield, Livingston and Summit.

New Providence currently has an agreement with Associated Humane Society in Newark for animal control services, which is handled by the Board of Health and costs the borough $33,000 annually.

“One of the reasons that this is so appealing is New Providence thankfully has little need for animal control services,” Marvin said. “In fact, so far this year, we’ve only used Associated Humane twice. So that cost us an awful lot of money to deal with two cats so far this year, whereas we would be able to save significant money if we entered into an agreement with Millburn.”

It is unlikely that the borough would enter into the new agreement this year since Associated Humane has a 90-day cancellation provision, Marvin said.

At the Board of Health meeting in September, Marvin said he plans to share the latest version of the draft agreement with the board for review. 

In the meantime, Marvin said he is working out the details with Millburn to ensure New Providence will have services equal to or better than the current agreement with Associated Humane.