Rescuers say
LOSAP will help
replenish ranks
BY VINCENT TODARO
Staff Writer
East Brunswick residents will not only decide the control of the local governing body in next week’s election. They are also being asked to approve pensions for first aid volunteers.
A public question on the township’s Nov. 2 ballot asks voters’ permission for a Length of Service Awards Program (LOSAP) that would provide retirement accounts to qualifying members of the East Brunswick Rescue Squad.
The program is aimed at drawing new members to the squad and holding on to current volunteers for longer periods of time. LOSAP was signed into law by former Gov. Christine Todd Whitman, but any town wishing to implement it must first enable it by ordinance and then have it approved by voters in an election. The East Brunswick Township Council adopted the ordinance in August, sending it to voters next week.
If approved, the program is estimated to cost the township about $100,000 per year. It would be funded through a dedicated tax of .005 cents per $100 of assessed valuation each year. Mayor William Neary has said this amounts to about $5 a year for each East Brunswick resident.
The township could not provide more than $100,000 annually to the entire program.
LOSAP allows the town to make annual contributions to a “deferred income account” for each member of the squad who is active and meets certain criteria. The most each volunteer could accrue in any given year would be $1,150.
In addition to recognizing members for years of service, the program would also pay up to $500 a year per eligible member for prior years served, not to exceed five prior years.
Neary has said he supports the program, since volunteers must put in a great deal of time in training and spend years volunteering for a service that comprises intensive, emotionally draining work.
Likewise, squad members have been actively campaigning for LOSAP’s approval.
“The township has determined that the creation of a LOSAP will enhance the ability of the township to recruit and retain volunteer first aid squad members,” the squad wrote on its Web site.
Already, all three fire companies in East Brunswick have LOSAP, as do first aid squads in nearby towns such as Spotswood, Helmetta and South River.
Tony Bersani, a spokesman for the rescue squad, said the township will have to “wait and see” if the program actually attracts new members and plays a role in maintaining current ones. What is more certain, he said, is that the squad needs more help.
The squad currently has 51 members, or about 80 if non-active members are counted. The squad also has 19 members on educational leave, meaning they are at college. During the summer, the number of active members goes up to 70 or more.
It “always needs more” volunteers, Bersani said.
“LOSAP gives us another tool in the toolbox to recruit members,” he said “We are dependent on contributions and are member-run. For 25 years, the United States has gotten people used to 911.”
The system whereby volunteers respond to emergencies is better than a program run by the government or private sector, he added.
“It’s better that the community take care of itself,” he said.
Those who stand to gain the most from the LOSAP program are those in their teens or 20s. If they stay on the squad until they reach their 50s or 60s, they will have accrued a fairly sizable pension, Bersani noted.
The squad has been working toward the creation of an East Brunswick LOSAP for the last two years.
Members explained that the rescue squad did not get LOSAP when many other squads and towns were implementing it because East Brunswick officials and squad leaders were more concerned with replacing the rescue squad building that burned down in 1999.
To be eligible for LOSAP, a member must be on the squad for at least five years and earn 100 points each year. The point system is as follows: one point for each ambulance call made and 20 for having four assigned duty shifts per month; two points for each drill attended that’s at least two hours; and 10 points for maintaining EMT-D certification, which is above what is required by EMT-B standards. Points can also be attained via one year of service in an elected or appointed position, such as captain or president, by attending meetings and partaking in activities such as weather-related standbys or work details.
Squad President Fred Goldberg has said that about half of the current squad members would be eligible for the LOSAP benefits, but he was hopeful the new incentive would stimulate other members to put in more time and effort.
Each year that a member qualifies, the township will put $1,150 into a special pension account for that member. The squad noted on its Web site that, if the volunteers had to be replaced by a paid service, the cost to the township “would be very much higher.”