Opinion: Brick Should Refund Its $150 Carry Permit Fee, as Toms River and Other NJ Towns Do

Opinion: This is Team Brick's position. Facts and sources are listed separately below.

If Toms River, Berkeley and other New Jersey towns can stop keeping their share of the carry permit fee, why does Brick still charge it?

The facts

• The fee. Under state law, every application for a permit to carry a handgun comes with a $200 fee. When a resident applies through the local police chief, $150 is kept by the municipality and $50 goes to the State Police. The law says the town's share "shall be used to defray the costs of investigation, administration, and processing" of applications (N.J.S.A. 2C:58-4(c), as amended by P.L.2022, c.131). Permits expire every two years, and renewals carry the same fee.
• The increase. The 2022 law raised the carry permit fee from $50 to $200, as a federal appeals court noted (Third Circuit opinion, Sept. 2025).
• What Brick charges. The Brick Township Police Department's carry permit instructions tell applicants to pay "$150 in cash or personal check," made out to the Brick Township Police Department, at the Records window in town hall (Brick PD, Concealed Carry Permit Applications). The department is following the state law; it doesn't set the amount. We could not find any Brick resolution or ordinance that refunds the fee.
• Other towns refund it. Towns can't change the $200 the state requires at the window, but a growing number have voted to give their $150 back to residents:
  • Englishtown went first in 2025. Its resolution lets any applicant bring a receipt to the borough's chief financial officer for a $150 refund (Resolution 2025-101).
  • Toms River's council unanimously adopted a refund resolution on Dec. 10, 2025 (Bearing Arms).
  • West Milford adopted the same kind of resolution on March 4, 2026, refunding $150 on proof of payment and an approved permit (Resolution 2026-118).
  • Readington wrote a $150 refund into its township code (Readington Code, Article VI: Firearm Fees).
  • Berkeley passed an ordinance refunding $100 of the fee and has already paid refunds to residents (Jersey Shore Online, Aug. 11, 2026).
  By March 2026, an advocacy count put the total at 18 towns, including Beachwood, Plumsted and South Toms River in Ocean County (NRA-ILA).
• The court case. In September 2025, a Third Circuit panel found the state's $50 share was likely unconstitutional because it funds a victims' compensation account, not permit processing. In December 2025, the full court agreed to rehear the case and vacated that ruling (order of Dec. 11, 2025). The full court heard arguments on Feb. 11, 2026, and as of today we have found no decision.
• In Trenton. Bills filed for 2026 (S1292 and A1075) would move the state's $50 into the General Fund. They would not lower the fee.

Our view

Carrying a firearm for self-defense is a constitutional right. A Brick resident who does everything the law asks still pays $150 to the township every two years to use it. That works like a local toll on a right, and residents shouldn't have to pay it.

This is also about respect for taxpayers. Brick families already pay for the township and its police department through their property taxes. When neighbors like Toms River and Berkeley have decided they can give this money back, Brick residents deserve a straight answer about why our town keeps it.

None of this is a knock on the Brick Township Police Department. The officers and staff who process these permits are doing exactly what state law tells them to do. The decision about what happens to the money afterward belongs to the mayor and council.

Our proposal

Team Brick calls on Mayor Lisa Crate and the Township Council to remove the township's $150 share the same way other towns have:

1. Adopt a refund resolution modeled on the ones in Toms River, Englishtown and West Milford. It would authorize the township's chief financial officer to refund the full $150 to any Brick applicant who shows proof of payment, starting on the date it's adopted.
2. Make the refund simple: one short form, posted on the police department's permit page next to the payment instructions.
3. Tell Trenton. Pass a resolution asking our legislators to repeal the 2022 fee increase, so no resident anywhere in New Jersey pays a toll to exercise a right.

If you agree, contact the mayor's office at 732-262-1240 or mayor@twp.brick.nj.us (bricknj.gov), and speak during public comment at a council meeting. Other towns have already shown it can be done, and Brick can do it too.

Photo: Brick Township Municipal Complex sign, by Daniel Nee / Shorebeat.