David Kilby, Managing Editor
MONROE — Two open seats on the Monroe Fire District 3 Board of Commissioners and the tentative budget of $4.6 million go before voters Saturday.
The incumbent candidates are Joel Kaplan and Gerald Kaplan, no relation, and their challengers are Benjamin Vivona and returning candidate Michael Konowicz.
The total operating budget for Fire District 3 is $4,603,557, and the amount to be raised by taxation is $4,342,557. A second question also asks to move $150,000 from capital reserves to the operating fund.
”If this part of the budget is not also passed, it will result in the layoffs of four or more firefighters,” said Douglas Martin, commission chairman.
The tax rate is 31.1 cents per $100 of assessed value or $559.39 for a house assessed at $169,000, about a $61 increase from last year.
Within the budget, $3,592,169 would be for paid department expenses, $350,000 for other operations and maintenance costs, $393,800 for administrative costs, $249,988 for capital appropriations and another $17,500 for fire prevention bureau costs.
”The Fire District eliminated two part-time positions (board secretary and cleaning service), and the commissioners reduced their compensation again in 2012 (from $5,000 to $4,000),” Mr. Martin said. “The amount to be raised by taxation is up, however, since the reserve funds available to offset the amount to be raised by taxation are not as great as 2011.”
The Monroe firefighters union, IFF Local 30170, agreed to pay freezes this year along with other concessions resulting in about an average of $6,000 in salary and wage reductions per firefighter this year, said union Vice President James Hannon.
”We took a 20 percent decrease in our pay,” Commissioner Joel Kaplan added. “If it weren’t for fuel costs, utilities and pension costs, we would have saved $300,000. We can’t control those costs.”
District 3 serves the center of the township and has two stations, one on Schoolhouse Road and one on Centre Drive. It has 32 paid firefighters, plus a chief and a captain. Its tax rate in 2011 was 29 cents per $100 of assessed value or $491 per year for a house assessed at the township average of about $169,000, and its budget was $4,179,956.
Mr. Vivona, 64, of Aberdeen Way, said something needs to be done to fix the budget. He has lived in Monroe for two years and is a support member for the Applegarth Volunteer Fire Company and a fire policeman in Middlesex County.
Although the Applegarth firehouse is in District 2, Mr. Vivona does live in District 3 and only volunteers at Applegarth since Fire District 3 doesn’t use volunteers, he said.
He served for 23 years as a volunteer for the Colonia Volunteer Fire Company and is a life member there. He was also a fire inspector and investigator in Colonia for 25 years.
Mr. Vivona is also a former president of the Colonia Volunteer Hook and Ladder Fire Company.
Before retiring, Mr. Vivona was a truck mechanic for Pacific International Express, now out of business, for 18 years and a tractor-trailer driver on the East Coast for Benjamin Moore Paint for 10 years.
”Right now, from my understanding, District 3 is bankrupt,” Mr. Vivona said. “I believe I can help on redoing their monies to spend it properly instead of throwing it away.”
He added, “They got to hope to not lay off firefighters. They got to do something. The wages from my understanding are over $3 million. I hate to see anybody lose their job, but something has to be done to get the monies corrected because they have no money as it is now. I won’t know how to do this until I get in there and see the whole picture. If the budget is not passed, we’re in big trouble.”
Mr. Konowicz, 62, lives on Hoffman Station Road with his wife, Veronica. He has three sons, Michael, Matthew and Andrew, and two grandsons. He moved to Monroe in 1976.
He was a volunteer for the Central Monroe Fire Company from 1976 to 1980 and served as vice president and trustee.
He was Monroe Township Economic Development commissioner from 1988 to 2007 and Monroe Township Municipal Authority commissioner from 1997 to 2009.
Mr. Konowicz, a retired electrician, has done electrical work for Monroe’s new high school building, Fed Ex’s new distribution center and the New Times printing facility in Edison.
”I’m retired now. I have more time,” he said, alluding to his four years as a volunteer back in the late 1970s. “I think I can do something good for the town again. I know the town, the people and the requirements of the Fire Department.”
Gerald Kaplan, 69, has lived in Monroe for 10 years with his wife, Ellen, and has grandchildren in the township. He was a fireman with the Manalapan Fire Company for 31 years and is still a life member there.
He has been commissioner for three years and is running for another three-year term.
He is a retired electrician from New York City and has been a member of the Local Union No. 3 International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers for 42 years.
”I have set my sight (on) certain things that were wrong in the district,” he said. “We’re trying to combine the three districts here in Monroe into one fire district. I have supported that.”
He said he helped establish the Fire Consolidation Study Committee, which was formed last year to find out what way, if any, is the best way to consolidate the three districts.
”As commissioner, it’s always about the safety of the firefighters and the people in the township that we serve,” he said.
Joel Kaplan, 71, has lived in Monroe for 10 years. He is a retired professional New York City firefighter and New York State EMT. He served in the Marine Corp from 1957 to 1965 and received a campaign medal for volunteering Sept. 11, 2001, as a volunteer while in retirement.
He also has received three certificates of merit from FDNY and belongs to the Staten Island Retiree Association of Firefighters.
Married to Rochelle, Joel Kaplan has two sons, one who lives in Monroe, and two grandchildren who go to school in Monroe.
He has been commissioner for three years and is running for another three-year term.
”I’m committed to having the three fire districts consolidate,” he said. “I want to keep the four firemen that were supposed to be laid off. I don’t want to lose the four- to six minute-response. After six minutes, a fire in a room generates a hot gas layer, then the hot gas layer will combust, causing everything in the room to ignite from the floor to the ceiling, reaching 1,400 degrees, enveloping in a blaze. This is known to firefighters as a flashover. The radiant heat will cause the fire to spread rapidly throughout the house. That’s why it’s important to have a four- to six-minute response. It’s a big deal if there’s a 40-second delay.
He said there’s always four firemen at each of District 3’s two firehouses.
“If the budget isn’t passed, we won’t know how to implement the manpower,” he said. “It would have to be discussed by the commission.”
The polling places are Rossmoor Community Clubhouse at Rossmoor Drive for Rossmoor residents only, Greenbriar at Whittingham Clubhouse at Whittingham Drive for residents of Greenbriar only, Regency at Monroe Clubhouse at Country Club Drive for Regency at Monroe residents only and the firehouse at the intersection of Schoolhouse Road and Buckelew Avenue for all other residents of Fire District 3.
Polls will be open from 2 to 8 p.m.

