Car 54, where are you?

Among Gov. Corzine's proposals to raise money is to charge towns that use State Police for local patrols if their property taxes are below their county's average. Dozens of relatively small municipalities - some of which aren't so small anymore - don't have their own police department and are covered by State Police based at nearby barracks.

The negative reaction from these towns comes as no surprise. Our taxes are already high enough, officials and residents in Monmouth and Ocean counties said. But they are forgetting one important thing: Everybody in the state is helping to pay for their police protection (we all kick in to pay for state troopers) while they save the cost of having their own force.

Maybe when they are told how much the state will charge them for state police coverage, they will decide to form their own department. Or better yet, form a regional police department with nearby towns.