District 2 fire board against consolidation
Township panel to present findings early next year
BY CHRISTINE GRIMALDI
Staff Writer

When it comes to taxes, it helps to have the scales tipped in your favor.

For those Monroe Township residents, eliminating the disparity in fire district taxes may raise their annual payments.

While a township consolidation committee looks at the possibility of merging all three township fire districts, the commissioners of District 2 have made it clear they are against the idea, which would likely see the three distinct tax rates - ranging from 15 to 25 cents - meet somewhere in the middle.

"We do not believe the efficiency of the three districts will be improved, but we do believe costs will increase," District 2 commissioners wrote in a press release. "With consolidation, additional positions may be needed, such as battalion chiefs and other command and management personnel, all leading to increased costs to the taxpayers of Monroe."

District 2 Commissioner and Treasurer Lawrence Reisch said consolidation would likely set a township-wide fire tax rate of about 20 cents per $100 of assessed valuation.

For the past three years, his district has maintained a rate of 15 cents per $100 of assessed valuation - the lowest among Monroe's fire districts. Residents there pay $300 annually for a home assessed at $200,000.

District 1 residents currently pay 19 cents, or $380 on the same home. In District 3, the rate is 25 cents, equivalent to $500 in annual fire district taxes.

Mayor Richard Pucci formed the consolidation committee this summer in response to repeated complaints from residents that they are paying different tax rates for the same services.

Just as the tax rates differ, so too do the makeup of the paid vs. volunteer staff. District 1 is staffed by two full-time firefighters and more than 50 volunteers; Districts 2 and 3 have mostly paid staffs.

Other factors vary as well - the districts have different lease agreements, different financial obligations for their equipment and buildings, and different labor agreements.

Officials aim to determine just what the differences will mean for taxpayers if the districts are merged.

Township Business Administrator Wayne Hamilton and Township Council President Gerald Tamburro head the committee, which also includes Councilman Irwin Nalitt, Fire District No. 1 commissioners Charlie DiPierro and Ray Perry, District No. 2 commissioners Glenn Borsuk and Martin Berkowitz, District No. 3 commissioners Peter Lumia and Len Levene, six fire officials, and IAFF Local 3170 union representative Les Barta.

District 2 commissioners take issue with some of the ideas presented thus far by township officials, and in their press release rebutted Tamburro's statements in the May issue of the Greenbriar at Whittingham community newspaper.

Tamburro reportedly stated that the staff of District 2 is two-thirds paid and one-third volunteer, while his home district, District 3, has an entirely paid staff. Tamburro wrote that, because of the difference in the type of firemen, paid or volunteer, the tax is dramatically different.

But District 2 commissioners cited that the district staffs career firefighters, and that they are only supplemented by active volunteers. The 25-cent tax rate of District 3 is due to its new fire station on Centre Drive, they wrote. Additional costs there include the hiring of 16 new firefighters and the purchase of a new fire truck, which can cost $700,000, according to the press release.

Reisch said the District 2 tax rate would increase with a proposed station addition, matching District 3's rate "down the line."

District 2 residents in February voted to contribute $3.8 million to a shared, $5.4 million district firehouse/township EMS facility. It had been slated for construction on Applegarth and Cranbury Half-Acre roads, directly across from the Clearbrook retirement community.

District 1 residents were to vote in August for a new $2.25 million station on Avenue K.

"When this expansion occurs in districts 1 and 2, the large disparity of the tax rate for all three districts will disappear," the press release stated.

Resich said there are "many other avenues" besides consolidation that can be pursued to eliminate and reduce the tax disparity, but declined to specify the alternatives.

For now, the expansion option is moot. District 2 will postpone its station plans until the township's Consolidation Study Committee makes its recommendations.

District 1 commissioners deferred their potential construction as well, pulling their station referendum from the Aug. 12 ballot, said Township Business Administrator Hamilton, who sits on the consolidation finance subcommittee.

"We're not saying don't do it, we're saying let's complete the study first," Hamilton said.

Tamburro told the Sentinel the committee hopes to issue its recommendations by the early part of next year. The committee's next meeting will be held in September.

Reisch did not know whether the tax rates would further increase if District 2's new station is built after consolidation.

"We have no idea what will happen, what the projection plans would be once consolidation takes place," Reisch said.

There is still a need for that station, Hamilton said. He said it might be moved to a different location, perhaps a little more south on Applegarth Road, in order to serve a broader base.

The District 2 project has also been postponed due to potential environmental problems with the site, Hamilton said. He said the site has not yet been approved due to problems with contamination fill, and the Department of Environmental Protection will need to OK the property first.

If consolidation does not occur, Hamilton said shared agreements and oversight might be other routes to pursue.

Monroe fire districts already operate under a tri-district agreement, he noted. Equipment and manpower from all three are dispatched simultaneously to fire calls, regardless of what part of town the call comes from.

"That's what makes the tax disparity so absolutely difficult for people to accept," Hamilton said.

"The commissioners, with all due respect, don't hear it like we do."