By Maria Prato-Gaines, Staff Writer
MONROE — The Township Council approved an amended version of fire District 3’s budget Monday as fire representatives cut $150,000 from the total amount to be raised by taxes.
Residents defeated the original $5.196 million budget by a vote of 533 to 388 Feb. 21.
Although the council has no control over Monroe’s three fire districts, state law requires that a budget that has been voted down by the public be turned over for the council’s review and approval, Council Gerald Tamburro said during the meeting.
The district managed to reduce the initial tax rate by a cent by cutting about $150,000 from the amount to be raised by taxes, said Leonard Levene, chairman of the fire commissioners for District 3. The rate, officials said, will remain the same as the current year’s. $3.57 per $100 off assessed valuation. Under that rate, the owner of a home assessed at the township average of $168,100 can expect to pay $599 in taxes for fire District 3.
Mr. Levene said that after much discussion and analysis, the district managed to reduce the amount raised by taxes from the originally proposed $4.087 million to $3.937 million by making cuts to a number of budget line items.
The district reduced its administrative costs by $28,000 and cut another $20,000 from professional fees, which it had hoped would pay for some of the initial evaluation and design costs for a School House Road firehouse renovation project, said Joseph Massoni, the district’s certified public accountant.
The district also cut $52,000 from its operation and maintenance budget, he said.
The district had intended to purchase some major pieces of equipment with these funds, equipment that was deemed necessary but would not impact employees’ ability to fight fires, Mr. Massoni said.
Another $70,000 came out of the capital appropriations budget as reserving funds took a backseat for other nonnegotiable expenses such as pensions, he said.
At the meeting, Mr. Tamburro noted three issues that had emerged from the election and possibly factored into the budget’s defeat.
The first was confusion over voting poll locations. Whereas most residents in District 3 live in retirement adult communities , where voting was held, the other districts typically hold the vote at the firehouses.
”Fire district boundaries do not totally adhere to political boundaries,” Mr. Levene said in response. “We’ve tried to alleviate the problem. We’re setting up a program to inform the public in a much better fashion; in a much more efficient fashion.”
Another issue Mr. Tamburro addressed is a lack of communication between the various fire districts in areas where they might benefit from shared information, like contract negotiations with labor unions.
”There has to be an intimate interfacing between the three districts,” Mr. Levine said in agreement.
The third issue that arose was the public outcry from District 3 residents who said they are tired of paying an unbalanced amount for services all residents reap the benefit of.
”The way it is now, fire District 3 pays for more of the budget because our fire people are paid employees,” said Phil Levy, a Regency resident, who voted against the budget. “If there’s a fire in District 1, fire District 3 goes out as well. Taxes should be evenly distributed and not be bore by District 3.”
Fire District 1 is mainly volunteer while fire District 2 has a staff of paid employees but a good resource of volunteers as well while the bulk of fire District 3 is paid employees with small amount of volunteers, township officials said.
Monroe resident Allen Kahn asked the township for more equitable treatment as residents in fire District 3 were paying $5.2 million of the total combined districts’ total budgeting of $8 million.
”We’re paying an inordinate amount,” he said.
District 3 representatives are aware of the issue and are hoping that with the help of township officials, a reasonable solution can be found.
”There is no organization represented here that is more anxious to work with the township,” Mr. Levene said. “We obviously have the higher tax rate, and we’re not happy with it.”
This isn’t the first time voters have complained about the disparity in the tax rates between districts.
In 2006, the township initiated a study to look at consolidation after a similar resident outcry, Mr. Hamilton said.
But after state officials began examining consolidation and shared service incentives around the same time, the study was halted, said Wayne Hamilton, township business administrator.
”We kind of suspended the study to see what the state would do,” he said. “We wanted to see what legislators would do.”
Even though the study was never concluded, it did bring a number of options to the table, some of which included adjusting the district’s boundaries, creating a master labor agreement and increasing municipal oversight, Mr. Hamilton said.
The recently defeated budget has roused the consolidation discussion again and prompted township officials to resume where they left off, he said.
Mr. Tamburro, Mr. Hamilton and Councilman Irwin Nalitt plan to meet with the three districts’ fire commissioner chairmen sometime this spring to discuss the next step, Mr. Hamilton said.
Mr. Hamilton said also is recommending the township hire a consultant on the matter.
The mere discussion of consolidating seemed encouraging to some of the council members.
”We’re looking toward cutting back and shared services,” Councilwoman Leslie Koppel-Egierd said. “The bright side is we get to have this conversation and bring it to light.”

