PLUMSTED: Township Committee trims defeated fire budget

By Joanne Degnan, Staff Writer
   PLUMSTED — The Township Committee has cut the tax levy in the defeated $1.4 million fire budget by $43,000 in a move that shaves nearly a half-cent off the proposed 2011 fire tax rate, which equates to about $15 for the average homeowner.
   The Township Committee achieved the savings on March 15 by reducing the fire budget surplus from $143,000 to $100,000. The tax levy — the total amount that needs to be raised in taxes — was trimmed from $1.17 million to $1.13 million.
   Tapping the surplus for operating expenses means the 2011 fire tax rate is now 10.5 cents per $100 in assessed valuation. The owner of a Plumsted home assessed at the townshipwide average of $378,600 will pay about $397 a year in fire taxes.
   Fire district officials told the committee that cutting the surplus would create a temporary cash-flow problem because the surplus is used to make payroll during the first quarter of the year while the fire district waits for the township to turn over the fire tax portion of first-quarter property taxes on April 1. To address this problem, the Township Committee agreed to pass a resolution allowing the fire tax revenue disbursements to be made to the district monthly, rather than quarterly.
   ”We reached an agreement where we can solve that temporary cash-flow problem and save the taxpayers some money by putting some of the surplus toward tax relief,” Mayor Ron Dancer said Friday.
   A special Township Committee meeting was scheduled for Tuesday, after The Messenger Press deadline, to pass a resolution authorizing the monthly, instead of quarterly, payment schedule to the district, Mayor Dancer said.
   Mayor Dancer said the Township Committee felt it was important to reduce the size of the original $0.009 fire tax levy increase to “respect the will of the voters,” who soundly defeated the fire budget on Feb. 19 even though it had met the requirements of the new state law limiting levy increases to 2 percent.
   Aaron Heller, the chairman of the Plumsted Board of Fire Commissioners, said in an interview Friday that the Township Committee’s action was reasonable.
   ”The board thanks the Township Committee for giving us a fair deal which will not require staff cuts and will not affect public safety,” Mr. Heller said.
   The Plumsted fire district employs 11 career staff, including seven assigned to firefighting duties and four firefighter/EMTs regularly assigned to the ambulance. The fire district currently provides residents with 24/7 fire and EMS services.
   Some of the residents who attended last week’s hearing questioned the 2 percent salary increase firefighters will be getting in 2011, Mr. Heller said. However, the previously signed contract with firefighters is legally binding and cannot be changed by the district in the wake of the fire budget’s defeat, he said.
   The average firefighter’s salary is $44,000 a year, but that figure includes the salaries of the deputy chief and two captains, which skews the average upward, Mr. Heller said. The eight rank-and-file firefighters earn about $35,000 and contribute 8.5 percent of their salaries to their pensions and 1.5 percent of their salaries toward their health benefits in their new contract, he said.
   Plumsted’s firefighters are paid below the state average, which is $56,000 a year, Mr. Heller added.