Town Council to Decide Fire District Tax Rate
Residents in East Dover, downtown, south of Route 37 and Ocean Beach affected by budget before council tomorrow
The Toms River Fire District 1 budget that failed to pass voters will be in the hands of the township council, who will decide the fate of the spending plan and tax rate.
District 1, which is served by East Dover, Ocean Beach, and Toms River Fire Co. 1 & 2, asked voters to approve a $7.3 million budget, and failed by 16 votes in February's election day.
There were 399 no votes, and 383 voted yes.
As a result, the budget will be decided by the township council. The public hearing on the budget is scheduled for tomorrow's town council meeting, at 6 p.m. in town hall.
After the hearing is held the council will decide the fate of the budget at future council meetings. Tomorrow's meeting is a chance for the public to weigh in on whether the council should cut from the budget and where, or if it should stay the same.
According to the Fire District 1 Business Administrator Brian Kubiel, who is also member of the town council, the tax rate for district 1 grew slightly over 2011.
The tax rate for 2011 was $0.0404 and the 2012 rate as proposed is $0.0428.
The fire budget pays for the administration, equipment, insurance and hydrant rental, among other expenses.
Attached is the 2012 budget as it was proposed for voters. Also attached is a budget comparison of 2011 to 2012, as prepared by Kubiel.
The Feb. 18 election saw a defeat of the proposed budget, as well as a challenger winning over the incumbent by a small margin. Several appropriation questions passed and are not part of tomorrow's discussion.
walt tupycia
4:44 pm on Monday, March 12, 2012
i hope you do not vote.
Project Bluebeam
4:58 pm on Monday, March 12, 2012
The comments above are a perfect example why certain IP addresses need to be blocked.
Laci
8:10 pm on Monday, March 12, 2012
Fire District 1 Business Administrator Brian Kubiel, who is also member of the town council appears to be a conflict of interest to me too and should required to be excused on any input or voting on the matter. In this case he should wear his fireman hat because he can't wear both and the voters voted twice, in November and February.
John V
8:24 pm on Monday, March 12, 2012
But of course Kubiel already told his cronies how to vote on it anyway. My prediction...the town council cuts maybe, maybe $5,000 out of the budget . The council needs to do the right thing and CLOSE WASTEFUL FIREHOUSES!!! We dont need two firehouses downtown!
We R TR
11:17 pm on Monday, March 12, 2012
The real disgrace is 782 people coming out to vote out of over 61,000 registered voters.
riverfest
2:13 pm on Tuesday, March 13, 2012
just so everyone knows the proposed fire budget includes a $10,000 raise for kubiel - nice ! 6 months on the politically appointed job and you are giving yourself a raise?
you can't make this stuff up !!!
Dick Hurtz
6:24 pm on Tuesday, March 13, 2012
The budget is a joke! Most of the money is suppose to be for fire equipment and fire trucks. The board in recent years spent money on non essential physicals for firefighters and now more money for "Psych testing? And "also", talk about conflict of interest? The majority of the board is comprived of Fire Company One and East Dover Fire members. For some strange reason why do these companies get everything they ask for and Ocean Beach and Company Two gets denied for any purchases?
Andy
12:57 pm on Thursday, March 15, 2012
Richard, Your comment is a joke. "Most of the money is suppose(sic) to be for fire equipment and fire trucks"..where do you see this? It is obvious you have never even looked at the budget (see above PDF) if you had you would have seen your comment was WRONG Richard. Second, "The board in recent years spent money on non essential physicals for firefighters " The NFPA (National Fire Protection Agency) which sets forth rules and recommendations for Fire Departments across the USA recommends that firefighters receive "periodic physical exams" to insure they are fit for duty. The Board of Fire Commissioners provides for one(1) exam for a firefighter every four(4) years. Excessive? I'm sure the death of a firefighter means nothing to you but to us who risk our lives for people like you it means a great deal . Third, there is only one (1) person on the Board who is a member of the East Dover Fire Company. Now unless my basic math that Sister Mary Elizabeth drummed into my head at the tender age of six, fails me. one divided by five equals .20 or 20%. Even with the new math 20% is not even close to a majority. I am not going to even attempt to go into what each department requests in their budgets, because my dear Richard, you obviously have not looked at the list either. Listen, a person's opinion is their opinion, and as they say, opinions are like a**holes, everyone has one. Except for you my dear Richard who obviously have two. One you sit on and one you talk out of.
Joe Arthur
9:53 am on Wednesday, March 14, 2012
The name of the above poster, D. Hurtz, was funny in 3rd grade. No one will take seriously anything a poster like that says. You had something interesting to say, but your juvenile "name" relegates your comments to the scrap heap. Can I get an inappropriate flag, here?
Oscar Wilde
8:11 pm on Wednesday, March 14, 2012
flagged your post , as you requested
joe smith
7:16 pm on Wednesday, March 14, 2012
I am new to town and I came out to vote because I could not believe the amount of wasteful spending in the budget. I was a fire commissioner for 6 years in my old town and I was shocked by the spending in this budget with an all volunteer district. As far as the council deciding the the amount to be deducted it will be very little if any. the process is a joke.
Oscar Wilde
8:12 pm on Wednesday, March 14, 2012
its fraudulent......but the money grab is coming to an end FOR ALL !
Another View
10:59 am on Thursday, March 15, 2012
A little over $222 thousand was reduced from the amount to be raised by taxation.
Andy
12:57 pm on Thursday, March 15, 2012
....Joe, what town did you come from? What was it's population? How many fire departments did it support? Did you pay for dispatching? Did you pay for "Fire Hydrant rentals" at about $500 per hydrant? Did your budget support a Bureau of Fire Prevention? Unless you can sit there and compare apples to apples. How can you generalize and use the comment "wasteful spending"? What do you consider "wasteful spending"?
TPGOP
2:32 pm on Thursday, March 15, 2012
I would consider Brian Kubiel "wasteful spending."
Catherine Galioto
2:59 pm on Thursday, March 15, 2012
Hi, folks. Here is the outcome of the council's vote on the fire budget: http://tomsriver.patch.com/articles/council-recommends-over-220-000-to-be-cut-from-fire-district-1-budget
joe smith
5:24 pm on Thursday, March 15, 2012
to andy,
town and population is not relavent. We pay for dispatching, fire hydrants(same price),bureau of fire prevention however cost for that are usually offset by state funding.im sure TR is same, accountant, clerk,lawyer,5 commissioners,9 paid fireman(not janitors) with benefits.wasteful spending 1. all volunteer according to fliers and fund drive however almost 2 million in employee cost, health benefits almost 1.3 million, thahts unreal by itself. I recieved $5500 for my salary THATS IT.
we know all budgets are padded to prepare for failed budgets. I know this is true so please I'm not a fool. I can conyinue with this budget but I'm glad to see the councils took something
Andy
7:16 pm on Thursday, March 15, 2012
Joe..... how can you say the town size and population is not relavent? Where were you a commissioner at? If my town is 48 square miles and your town is 25 square miles I am bound to have more hydrants then you, and my rental amount that I am being charged will be more. If I have a population of 97000 and you have a population of 65000, I will need more people to provide the services to meet the needs of the community. You say you are not a fool but those are foolish comments. I guess the fact that the council removed $220,000 from the budget also disproves your comment about the process being a "joke".
joe smith
9:16 pm on Thursday, March 15, 2012
andy
your correct as far as hydrants I came from a smaller district but I'm not questioning hydrants. My problem is the amount spent on employees and health benefits even though it is an all volunteer fire co. A few other items such as travel reimbursment, other operating material and supplies,other appropriation expenses and I'm sure proffesional services can be trimmed. Your obviously a firefighter and comend all firefighters but in todays economy we need to be sensible thats all I,m saying. very suprised by our town council
Andy
11:37 pm on Thursday, March 15, 2012
........Joe, those benefits you are talking about are for the full-time dispatchers, the staff of the Bureau of Fire Prevention, the Board of Fire Commissioners staff, the Administrator, the commissioners themselves. All in all you are talking about 15 plus individuals that are full-time employees who do receive medical, dental etc. Some of these benefits are with contract employees, which aren't even open for negotiation until the contract is up for renewal. I agree there is always room to sharpen the pencil.....but Joe you were a Fire Commissioner.......to make a generalization that the budget is full of "wasteful spending" is not a fair statement.
Exit82
12:25 am on Friday, March 16, 2012
How many commissioners are employeed by Toms River Township?