The cost and labor of picking up dead deer off roadways may soon be left to municipalities WEST MILFORD West Milford taxpayers will have to take on one more expense if the state gets its way on a new proposal that of removing dead deer from the road. Deer that have been struck by cars are a common site in heavily wooded areas such as West Milford. And they have now become the center of a political squabble. Currently, the state hires a contractor to remove the carcasses. If you find or strike a deer, you are supposed to call the police, who in turn notify the contractor. As part of $17 million in proposed state Department of Transportation budget cuts, the state wants to force municipalities to do the deed themselves starting in September. “I don’t know who would do it,” said West Milford Animal Control Officer Bev Lujbli. “I certainly couldn’t and the DPW is already stretched pretty thin.” The state has spent $850,000 per year to collect 21,000 dead deer annually from all roadways, though 14,700 deer are collected from county and municipal roads. New Jersey has an estimated 180,000 deer. Transportation Commissioner Kris Kolluri said the state will continue to collect deer carcasses from state highways, but local municipalities would have to collect deer from their own roads and county roads within their borders. He compared the proposed move to the state plowing snow on state highways and municipal governments plowing snow on local streets. Kolluri said the move would save the state about $734,000 as it tries to close a projected $4.5 billion budget deficit for next fiscal year. ``This is a tough fiscal environment,’’ Kolluri said. He said the state is open to allowing municipalities to use the state’s 18 deer carcass disposal sites, as long as safe and health practices are followed by municipalities and the state doesn’t see additional costs. No agreement has been completed, he said. Bill Dressel, executive director of the New Jersey State League of Municipalities, said local governments will fight the proposal. ``It’s an unanticipated cost, a cost that’s traditionally been picked up by the state,’’ Dressel said. ``It’s going to mean in many cases possible property tax increases.’’ Dressel said the state wants municipalities to cover more services while proposing no increase in state aid for municipalities for the fifth consecutive year. He also noted Gov. Jon S. Corzine wants rural communities to pay for state police patrols. ``I would argue it’s cheaper for the state to be enabled to negotiate with one contractor than it would be for each of the individual municipalities to negotiate with a lot of contractors,’’ Dressel said. New Jersey has 566 municipalities.