New Jersey is funding a study to see if combining township services can help lower property taxes.

The state has given $238,000 to 10 municipalities to study how to share local government services. Governor Corzine has mentioned it as one way to reduce taxes, as well as possibly consolidating schools.

Neptune City and Avon-by-the-Sea will use their money to study joint dispatching services. In Fanwood and Scotch Plains, creating a joint library in a new shared facility will be examined. Sharing firefighter and emergency medical services will be looked at in Tabernacle, Shamong and Medford Lakes, and also Green Brook, Plainfield and Watchung.

Watching, Green Brook and North Plainfield already share services. North Plainfield Fire Chief William Eaton says studying how to share even more services will be beneficial to everyone.

New Jersey has the highest property taxes in the nation.