Salem County freeholders are looking at whether privatizing the county 911 dispatch center and medical staff at the jail would save money.
SALEM - The bids are in for the possible privatization of Salem County's 911 center and medical staff at its jail.
Now it's up to the freeholder board what's next.
The fate of more than 50 county workers will be determined by what they do.
On Friday, officials opened the lone bid for providing 911 dispatching services by a private firm. From IXP Corporation of Princeton, that bid was for $2,398,487.50.
Signs have popped up around Salem County which urge rejection of privatization of the county's 911 dispatch center or its jail nursing staff. This one is seen along Route 45 in Mannington Township on Sunday. (Bill Gallo Jr. | For NJ.com)On May 6, three bids to provide medical services at the Salem County Correctional Facility were opened.
They included: $2,550,880 from CFG Health Systems LLC of Marlton, $2,262,051 from Correctional Medical Care of Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, and $1,920,132 from Correct Care Solutions of Nashville, Tennessee, according to the county.
In a weekend email, Freeholder Director Julie Acton said the entire freeholder board will meet to discuss the bids and determine whether they feel whether the bids represent cost savings and whether any of them should be considered.
Other county administration staff are expected to join the board for the review, Acton said. She also said in the email there is no deadline for the county to act on them.
In earlier discussions about this year's difficult budget process, Acton said all options were being discussed to save taxpayers money.
"We were elected by the public to do our due diligence and explore every possible option to reduce the tax burden," Acton said. "Exploring the options includes investigating and weighing the pros and cons from the shared-service perspective, as well as from those who utilize the service during response time."
The plan to privatize the jail nursing staff and the county 911 center -- especially the 911 center proposal -- have become hot-button issues as the county prepared its 2016 budget.
Large crowds of county union workers along with first responders have turned out at freeholder meetings to voice their opposition to outsourcing dispatching services and other county jobs.
The county budget was introduced May 4 and is expected to be adopted when the board meets on Wednesday afternoon, officials say.
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In such dire straits, the county even suspended the collection of the full 2 cents for open space -- mainly farmland preservation. It did so because freeholders felt that 2 cents on top of the 5.6-cent tax increase needed to balance the budge would be too much for county taxpayers to bear.
That move produced an angry response from members of the farming community.
Included in the budget are expectations of saving $1.2 million in salaries and benefits from county employees.
The 911 center has approximately 37 full- and part-time employees. The jail nursing staff includes about 20 employees full- and part-time.
Asked for how much the 911 center costs the county operate and how much the medical unit at the jail costs, a county spokesperson said those numbers were not available Friday.
Around Salem County blue and white yard signs have popped up opposing any privatization. "Say No To Outsourcing, Keep Nurses/9-1-1 Jobs In Salem County," the signs read.
Salem County Sheriff Chuck Miller, who is in charge of both the jail and the 911 center, on Friday had no immediate comment on the bids other to say that he and officials from the 911 center and jail would be meeting with the county administration to discuss them.
He had earlier said he was against 911 privatization.
Salem County had been discussing a possible cost-sharing agreement with Gloucester County to provide 911 services.
On Friday, Gloucester County Spokeswoman Debra Sellitto said those talks are no longer ongoing.
"We are always open to discussion of shared services to save taxpayers money," she added.
Bill Gallo Jr. may be reached at bgallo@njadvancemedia.com. Follow Bill Gallo Jr. on Twitter @bgallojr. Find NJ.com on Facebook.