Honorable Mayor and Members of the Township Council Township of Jackson County of Ocean Jackson, New Jersey

In accordance with requirements prescribed by the Division of Local Government Services, Department of Community Affairs, State of New Jersey, the following are the General Comments and Recommendations for the year ended December 31, 2019.

N.J.S.A.40A:11-4 states every contract or agreement, for the performance of any work or furnishing or hiring of any materials or supplies, the cost or the contract price whereof is to be paid with or out of public funds not included within the terms of Section 3 of this act, shall be made or awarded only by the Governing Body of the contracting unit after public advertising for bids and bidding therefore, except as is provided otherwise in this act or specifically by any other Law. No work, materials or supplies shall be undertaken, acquired or furnished for a sum exceeding in the aggregate the bid threshold, except by contract or agreement.

The bid threshold in accordance with N.J.S.A. 40A:11-4 was $17,500 for the year ended December 31, 2019.

It is pointed out that the governing body of the municipality has the responsibility of determining whether the expenditures in any category will exceed the statutory minimum within the fiscal year. Where question arises as to whether any contract or agreement might result in violation of the statute, the solicitor's opinion should be sought before a commitment is made.

Inasmuch as the system of records did not provide for an accumulation of payments for categories for the performance of any work or the furnishing or hiring of any materials or supplies, the results of such an accumulation could not reasonably be ascertained. Disbursements were reviewed, however, to determine whether any clear-cut violations existed.

Our examination of expenditures did not reveal any individual payments or contracts in excess of the bid threshold “for the performance of any work, or the furnishing of any materials, supplies or labor” other than those where bids had been previously sought by public advertisement or where a resolution had been previously adopted under the provisions of N.J.S.A.40A:11-6.

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