Municipal annex and police headquarters

The Township is planning a new municipal annex that would house a new Police Headquarters and an Emergency Management Office, and is in discussions with the Branchburg Board of Education to acquire the Old York School property.

The bond ordinance. At its September 28, 2026 meeting the Township Committee adopted Ordinance No. 2026-1518, a bond ordinance “providing for the construction of a municipal annex.” It appropriates $18,060,000, including an $860,000 down payment from previously adopted budgets, authorizes $17,200,000 in bonds or notes, sets a 30-year period of usefulness, and directs any grant money to the cost or to paying down the debt. No one spoke at the public hearing. Recorded vote: 5–0 (Aye: Young, Columbus, Owens, Beatrice, Schworn). The ordinance had been introduced unanimously on September 14, when Mayor James Schworn said it authorizes funding but does not commit the Township to spending the full amount.

What officials said. On Sept. 28 the Mayor said a $2.25 million federal grant will partly offset the cost; on Sept. 14 Township Administrator Gregory Bonin had described a $2.2 million federal grant to upgrade the emergency operations center that would go toward the new facility. Mr. Young said the grant lets the Township use debt-service roll-off to cover part of the cost, and the Mayor said maturing bonds will let the Township absorb part of the new debt “without incurring a tax increase.” The Mayor said the goal is a larger Municipal Complex with the current Police Headquarters repurposed, and that acquiring Old York School would reduce the borrowing. Mr. Bonin said construction should take about two to three years from authorization to proceed.

How it got here. On April 13, 2026 the Committee approved, 4–0, preliminary costs for a feasibility study to repurpose 580 Old York Road (Resolution No. 2026-78) and a contract with The Goldstein Partnership, LLC for the conceptual design of a new police building (No. 2026-80). On July 27, Mr. Bonin reported that Branchburg was on the list for a $2.25 million federal Community Project Funding award for an Emergency Operations Center, and the Mayor said the Township was working with the Board of Education on acquiring Old York School and repurposing the building into a new Police Department and Office of Emergency Management Center. In his 2026 annual letter, the Mayor wrote that the current headquarters “no longer meets modern operational requirements” and that construction was not anticipated until late 2028.

The capital plan. The 2026 adopted budget’s six-year capital program lists “Municipal Complex Improvements” at $20,000,000. That planning line and the ordinance’s $18,060,000 appropriation are separate figures; neither document reconciles them.

Residents can read the minutes on the Township’s Agendas/Minutes page, watch the meetings in the Granicus archive, and speak at Committee meetings. See the explainer for the full sequence and the ordinance terms.