PLUMSTED: $7,000 trimmed from rejected fire budget

by Peter Geier, Staff Writer
   PLUMSTED — The Township Committee has approved a slightly reduced Fire District 1 budget that will increase the average property owner’s tax bill by about $100.
   Committee members, working with representatives of the Board of Fire Commissioners, cut $7,000 in maintenance and supply expenses as well as fire marshal and emergency medical services operations costs before the March 4 Township Committee meeting.
   The resulting $1,021,348 to be raised by taxes for a $1.2 million budget increases the fire tax rate by 2.5 cents from 6.11 cents to 9.38 cents per $100 of assessed value.
   Mayor Ron Dancer said at the Township Committee meeting that “voters don’t vote on the budget; they vote on the amount of taxes to be levied.”
   ”Whether it’s a school budget or a fire commission budget, we get a vote, and whether it comes back to us with seven or 70 votes, there’s going to be a reduction” — but not to the extent the township cannot “meet the public safety needs of the community in lives and property,” the mayor added.
   The committee action came in response to local taxpayers’ rejection of the fire commission’s proposed $1,028,348 budget by a seven-vote margin, 78-71, last month.
   Mr. Dancer pointed out that the last time Plumsted voters rejected the fire commission budget was in 2004. At that time, he said, the Township Committee reduced the amount by $10,000.
   The new fire tax increase translates into a nearly $100 jump in property taxes for the owner of a house assessed at the township’s $384,000 average, whose tax bill will rise to $360.19 from last year’s $264.19 average bill.
   The large jump in the fire commission’s budget — from $744,037 last year — arose from the transfer to the commission of two services done by different agencies.
   The fire commission took over responsibility from the township for emergency medical services and took local control from Ocean County for its fire marshal and fire-prevention services.
   These moves, aimed at giving the commission more local control of its emergency services and realizing long-term costs savings through consolidating, will cost more than $400,000.
   The salaries of transferred fire and emergency medical personnel come to $223,993, with an additional $88,421 in benefits and $97,000 for the transfer costs of operations, for a total of $409,414, according to the fire commission’s proposed budget worksheet.
   Had the commission not taken over the services, the township would have maintained a stable fire tax rate, said Aaron Heller, one of three district fire commissioners.
   ”We appreciate the confidence that the mayor and Township Committee showed in us throughout the process,” Mr. Heller said.
   The fire commission originally had sought $1,028,348 to be raised through taxation, which would have increased the tax rate from 6.88 cents to 9.47 cents per $100 of assessed value.
   Had it been approved, the owner of a home assessed at the township’s $384,000 average would have seen a $363.65 tax bill, compared to last year’s $264.19 average bill.