ESTELL MANOR – Officials in eight western Atlantic County municipalities agreed Thursday night to study whether the Atlantic County Sheriff’s Office could provide police protection for their communities.

The study would cover six municipalities – Buena Vista Township, Weymouth Township, Estell Manor, Folsom, Port Republic and Corbin City – currently patrolled by State Police.

It also would include Mullica Township and Egg Harbor City, whose officials already are discussing whether merging their police departments will save taxpayer money.

While officials meeting at the municipal building in Estell Manor said they don’t want to jeopardize public safety, economics apparently will play a large role in their deciding which agency will provide police coverage.

Officials said their towns can’t afford to pay for State Police coverage or create their own police departments, which are two of the three choices Gov. Jon S. Corzine gave rural municipalities protected by State Police in his February budget message. The third option is for municipalities to contract police services with municipalities that already have police departments.

Port Republic Mayor Gary Giberson said the study – which apparently will be sponsored by a subcommittee of the Atlantic County Association of Mayors – must spell out whether using State Police or the Sheriff’s Office would be more cost-effective.

But while Egg Harbor City Mayor Joseph Kuehner said officials in all eight municipalities have to realize that both the State Police and Sheriff’s Office options will cost money, Folsom Mayor Thomas Ballistreri seemed a little skeptical.

“Why is that?” Ballistreri said. “Don’t we pay county taxes?”

Ballistreri asked Atlantic County Sheriff James McGettigan if he didn’t already have enough personnel and vehicles at his office to patrol the western end of the county.

McGettigan said he didn’t.

“It’s not as easy saying, ‘Let’s take those six guys over there who look like they’re not doing anything and put them on road patrol,’” McGettigan said.

Giberson wound up being the official who most urged the study involving the Sheriff’s Office, saying it is the only way anyone will know whether the proposal is feasible from economic and public safety standpoints.

“We are responsible for the safety of the residents in our town,” he said.

Corzine’s decision to charge rural municipalities for State Police is the second part of a financial blow to small municipalities.

Corzine’s budget significantly cuts state aid to New Jersey’s smaller municipalities. The governor favors larger municipalities as a way to improve fiscal efficiency.

Officials from the eight municipalities spent the first 30 minutes of their meeting Thursday lamenting Corzine’s state aid formulas.

When they finally got to discussing police coverage, they made several suggestions about how to raise revenue.

Ballistreri said he favored one proposal by which municipalities that patrol state roads would bill the state for that service. Estell Manor Mayor Joseph Venezia wondered why revenues couldn’t be increased by increasing municipal court fines and fees.

Giberson said the study involving the Sheriff’s Office should please Corzine, who wants to give municipalities state money to find ways to decrease costs.

“We should do the study now and come up with a long-term plan,” he said.

A representative of the State Police also attended the meeting, telling officials he was just there to observe the proceedings.

To e-mail Thomas Barlas at The Press:

TBarlas@pressofac.com