Township Committee To Address Defeated Fire Budget

The Township Committee is holding a special public meeting to discuss the recently defeated Towaco Fire District budget.

“At a public fire district election, held on Saturday, February 19, 2011, residents of the respective 3 fire districts had the opportunity to vote for members of the boards of fire commissioners as well as the proposed 2011 fire district budgets,” a release on the township’s website said. “The Towaco Fire District's budget was defeated by the voters.  As per state statute, the defeated fire district budget is then referred to the Township Committee for its review and recommendation.”

According to township administrator Frank Bastone, the meeting, which will be held on March 8 at 7 p.m., falls within the governed time frame for discussing defeated fire budgets in the township.

“The statute is not as comprehensive as the requirements for a defeated school budget,” he said. “It gives the committee 30 days from the time of date of the election to come to a decision."

According to Township Committee Attorney Martin Murphy, the Township Committee cannot increase the fire district’s budget past what was previously voted on, meaning that the Committee will have to either accept the proposed budget or propose a smaller budget.

The Township Committee decided at its Feb. 22 meeting to hold the public hearing before its scheduled March 8 meeting due to the time constrains of the statute, mayor Jim Sandham said.

“We have to get this done within 30 days of the election,” he said.

The Township Committee said that, while the district’s fire officials were not required to be there, they would be invited to the hearing.

Committeewoman Deb Nielson said that the Committee needed to make sure to set enough time aside of the meeting so that all interested parties could have a chance to speak.

“We need to make sure that all the people who want to comment on this issue get a chance to,” she said. “This is the first time since 1921 that this has occurred, so this is precedent setting. It might involve a boarder discussion.”

The Montville and Pine Brook fire district budgets were approved on the Feb. 18 election.