Towaco Fire District Budget Defeated

Residents voted not to pass the Towaco Fire District’s 2011 budget in an election on Saturday. The defeated budget will now go before the Township Committee for review.

“I guess there is a lot of unrest out there,” Towaco Fire Prevention bureau officer Harry Schaub said.  “It’s never happened here before.”

Schaub said that the district’s proposed budget of $710,187 represents a nearly $5,000 reduction from its previous year allotment.

“We trimmed the budget back a little bit,” he said. “We moved our phones over to Verizon, that saved us some money. Times are tough, and we looked everywhere for places we could cut.”

Schaub said that the district’s budget is to pay for “Everything we do, lock stock and barrel,” including updating equipment and paying its bills.

“Mostly its volunteers who do the work and that saves us a while bunch of money,” he said.

The election also found challengers Michael Ward and Lee Witty winning the two open spots on the Towaco Board of Fire Commissioners, beating out incumbents Edward Adams and Russ Lipari.

Representatives from the Montville and Pine Brook Fire districts, as well as the township clerk, were not available for comment.