HILLSBOROUGH: Fire budget goes to voters on Saturday

By Gene Robbins, Managing Editor
Fire budget goes
to voters Saturday
Gene RobbinsManaging Editor
   Saturday is the election day for this year’s $2.1 million fire budget.
   The budget asks for $1.65 million in taxes to fund the operating budget. That would be supplemented by $225,000 to be shifted from reserve funds, plus grants and contracts.
   The money would be spent on just over $1 million in district expenses, plus $69,500 to $75,000 allocated to each of the three fire companies in the township.
   District funds pay for fire operations, training, gear, equipment and rolling stock. The three fire companies raise money to run and keep up their buildings.
   The fire budget takes about 3 cents of the total property tax rate of $2.18 for each $100 of assessed value. That’s about $90 on a home assessed at $300,000, or $150 on a home assessed at $500,000.
   The only poll for the election will be at the municipal building on South Branch Road. Polls are open from 2 to 9 p.m.
   The vote will affect a little more than 1 percent of the total property tax bill and also will decide two spots on the management board for the overall firefighting department.
   Three men are running for two seats on the five-member Board of Fire Commissioners, which manages fire budgets, except for the costs of the three buildings, which are footed by the companies.
   The candidates are Flagtown fireman Nick Patullo and current commissioners Greg Kane and Bob Unizkewicz.
   This year, funds will go to buy sheeting, shoring materials, rope and breathing and communication lines needed in a confined space or trench rescue.
   In the next five years, the schedule calls for the purchase of five new or replacement vehicles. The board puts aside money every year. This year’s ballot asks for permission to spend $415,000 on a new emergency vehicle.
   The township fire district is preparing to buy a 3,500-gallon tanker in 2013 for the fire company based on Woods Road. The current one is about 20 years old — about the end of its expected life when repairs begin to take more and more money.
   Two years later, the Flagtown company is on the list to receive a new truck with Fire Co. No. 2 the year after that.
   An expensive ladder truck replacement — $700,000 or more — is scheduled for 2019, and the fire board already is planning for that, Mr. Berju said. Some of the money from each year’s fire budget is put aside to build an account to pay for trucks to avoid the extra costs of bonding.
   The budget includes money for new equipment — $17,500, $22,000 and $25,700, respectively, for the Flagtown, Route 206 and Woods Road companies.
   The biggest item in the budget is $417,170 for salaries of fulltime fire marshals, virtually unchanged from last year. All of the firefighters are volunteers. The most significant item is $205,000 for insurance of all sorts— medical, disability, vehicle, etc. — which now takes about one-tenth of the entire budget.
   Mr. Patullo was fire chief in Finderne in 1991-92 and has become a Flagtown fireman.
   In fact, he recently was named the company’s Rookie of the Year even though he has 37 years in the fire services and 41 years in emergency medical services.
   He’s a former police officer in Hillsborough (1985-90) and Bound Brook (1990-2000), where he was born and raised.
   Mr. Uniszkewicz fills the role of treasurer on the Board of Fire Commissioners, where he has served for 12 years.
   A construction finance analyst for PSE&G, he also is treasurer of the Flagtown company, where he has served for 25 years, he said.
   Mr. Kane, a volunteer firefighter in Flagtown, is completing his third year on this term as a fire commissioner. He also served from 1990-96, he said.
   He’s been a volunteer firefighter in Hillsborough for 41 years, he said.