CONSOLIDATE
Hamilton firefighters petition to create one fire district
HAMILTON >> The township’s professional firefighters are ready for change, and they want the public’s support.
Hamilton taxpayers currently pony up a collective $450,000 per year to maintain Hamilton’s big government fire service that comprises 45 individual fire commissioners and nine separate fire districts. The leaders of Hamilton’s firefighter unions said those days need to end.
“This is not an indictment against the 45 commissioners,” said Mike Kiernan, a Hamilton Fire District 3 firefighter and president of FMBA Local 84. “The vast majority of them take their jobs seriously.”
But the costs of fire protection would be lower and the safety of township residents and firefighters would be greater if the township’s nine fire districts consolidated into a single, township-wide district governed by five commissioners, according to Kiernan, who lives in the township he serves.
Surrounded by elected officials and emergency responders, Kiernan on Monday advocated consolidation of the fire service during a National Fire Prevention Week press conference at the Rusling Hose Fire Co.
Kiernan did not blame any fire-related fatalities on the existence of Hamilton’s nine separate fire districts. He did, however, ask his colleagues and members of the public “are we going to wait” for someone to die as a direct result of the shortcomings that arise from having multiple fire districts with different fire chiefs responding to the same incident.
Calling for the public to support a formal petition to consolidate the township’s nine fire districts into a single district, Kiernan said there is “no sound argument” against his proposal. “Because that’s the way we’ve always done it” is not an acceptable reason to oppose consolidation, he said.
“I’ll be signing the petition,” said New Jersey Assemblyman Wayne DeAngelo, a Hamilton resident. “I believe this is the right direction for Hamilton Township to go in, and I support it 100 percent.”
Assemblyman Dan Benson, also a Hamilton resident, signed the petition Monday morning at the Rusling Hose Fire Co., calling it an “important” step in the way of promoting the safety of residents and firefighters alike.
State Sen. Linda Greenstein, a Plainsboro resident who has represented Hamilton for the last 17 years as a state lawmaker, said she hopes Hamiltonians support the consolidation petition, saying, “Every Hamiltonian deserves equal services at equal costs.”
Nick Buroczi, president of the FMBA Local 284 firefighters union, said he will be leading a door-to-door “petition blast” on Saturday in hopes of persuading Hamiltonians to sign the consolidation petition.
Township residents and firefighters for years have talked about consolidation, but opposition has always blocked it from becoming a reality.
Under the Kiernan and Buroczi plan, a minimum of 5 percent of voters from each of the nine fire districts would have to sign the petition for it to move forward.
If and when the minimum amount of signatures are collected, the petition would be delivered to the office of the township’s clerk, and then Hamilton Township Council would have a public hearing on whether to accept or reject the petition’s call for consolidating the nine fire districts into one fire district.
At least one-third of the township’s 45 fire commissioners have officially endorsed the idea of consolidating Hamilton’s nine
separate fire districts into a single district.
The commissioners of Fire District 9 passed a resolution Aug. 11 in support of consolidating the township’s nine fire districts into a single district. The commissioners of District 6 followed suit on Sept. 14 by passing a resolution in favor of consolidation. The commissioners of Fire District 5 officially embraced the concept on Sept. 16 by passing a resolution in support of consolidation.
Hamilton Councilman Ed Gore attended Monday’s Rusling Hose Fire Co. press conference, affirming his well-known position of supporting consolidation of the
township’s fire service.
JoAnne Bruno, a Democrat running for Hamilton Council in the Nov. 3 election, also attended the press conference. Bruno said there is no reason for her to oppose consolidation considering the township’s professional firefighter union leaders have both advocated consolidation as the best way to improve the firefighting service at a lower cost.
“I commend the FMBA for addressing the process for consolidation,” said Republican Mayor Kelly Yaede, who is running for re-election this year. “I’m for anything that is for saving taxpayers’ dollars. I prefer that no taxpayers realize an increase in their fire taxes in any district.”
The commissioners for Hamilton Fire Districts
The commissioners for Hamilton Fire Districts 2, 3, 4 and 7 convened a special July 7 meeting in which they had all agreed to pursue the formation of a new governmental body known as a Joint Meeting. Under state law, a Joint Meeting is a governmental entity that does not have the power to tax but does have the authority to make personnel decisions of hiring employees and transferring workers.
2, 3, 4 and 7 convened a special July 7 meeting in which they had all agreed to pursue the formation of a new governmental body known as a Joint Meeting. Under state law, a Joint Meeting is a governmental entity that does not have the power to tax but does have the authority to make personnel decisions of hiring employees and transferring workers.
Buroczi, the leader of FMBA Local 284, said a Joint Meeting would create another layer of bureaucracy on top of the nine existing fire districts and 45 fire commissioners. He insisted the best approach to reforming Hamilton’s fire service is to embrace a streamlined approach of having one township-wide fire district comprising only five commissioners.
The taxpayer-funded cost of maintaining 45 fire commissioners costs about $450,000 annually. The pro-consolidation District 6 fire commissioners earn $8,000 annually in their elected positions; the pro-consolidation District 5 commissioners earn between $5,500 and $7,000 per year; and the pro-consolidation District 9 commissioners collect annual stipends between $7,000 and $8,500, according to their 2015 budgets.
Some of the fire districts and residents who support consolidation in concept may not support the FMBA-sponsored consolidation plan on principle. “The Board of Fire Commissioners for Hamilton Township Fire District 2 understands that there would be a benefit in the operation of our fire service if all firefighters in Hamilton were employed under one fire department,” Commissioner Gene Argenti of the Mercerville-area Fire District 2 said in a statement that voiced opposition to the FMBA-sponsored consolidation plan due to “our understanding that the union intends to petition our residents to dissolve our district and merge Mercerville into Fire District 3.”
Fire District 3 has a much higher property tax rate than Fire District 2, which is the main reason Argenti cited for opposing the FMBA-sponsored consolidation plan.