By Gene Robbins, Managing Editor
Polls will be open for two hours tonight, Thursday, to vote on a million-dollar request by the fire commissioners for equipment, including a $750,000 pumper for the Flagtown Fire Company.
The vote will be from 6 to 8 p.m. in the municipal building on South Branch Road. Paper ballots will be used.
The vote asks approval to exceed the state cap of 2 percent on the year’s increase of the fire commission budget. The commission needs to know whether it can include these capital projects before it can finish putting together its budget for 2015.
Voting yes to these questions will raise the fire tax on the same household about $50 for one year, commission officials said. As an example, a home valued at $250,000 pays about $82 a year in fire taxes.
The fire commission coordinates equipment and training needs among the three firehouses in the township and contracts with the Neshanic Fire Company for service in the western part of the township.
Voters can vote for all projects or pick and choose the items on the ballot.
Projects planned are:
A vehicle for the fire marshal’s office, not to exceed $50,000, from funds approved in 2014 to carry special fire investigative equipment.
A pickup truck for Fire Company No. 2, not to exceed $50,000. The company is retiring a 1989 brush truck. The new vehicle would be a four-wheel-drive, crew cab pickup and would be dedicated for fire police work.
Fire pagers to alert volunteers of a fire call or other emergency, not to exceed $45,000. Since Somerset County has gone to new dispatching system, the township has found its current pagers don’t work well on the current narrow frequency band. The commission fears volunteers may be missing calls that were not activating the older pagers.
Improved vehicle exhaust ventilation system for all three fire companies’ buildings, not to exceed $160,000.
A replacement pumper for Fire Company No. 1, at $750,000. This would replace a pumper that has a minimum 1,250-gallon-per-minute pump and carries 750 gallons of water. The board is seeking to replace the 20-year-old pumper for the Flagtown company a year ahead of its normal schedule because it was incurring repair expenses that might be better put toward buying a new vehicle.
The commission has said it finds itself hamstrung by the 2 percent cap, which is being gobbled up easily for operating needs — like insurance, tools, fuel and turnout gear (at $2,500 per person) — and limiting the amount of money that can put into a savings account for future large purchases.

