Red Bank Budget Introduction Hits Roadblock On Rent For Firehouses

RED BANK, NJ — The Red Bank Borough municipal budget will need to be reintroduced at a future meeting after it failed to win sufficient votes Wednesday night, following a call to increase the amount the borough pays for the use of firehouses in town.

The introduction did not get a majority of the full council (four votes) as required, according to Borough Attorney Daniel Antonelli.

In the order the vote was taken, Councilman John Jackson voted yes, as did Councilwomen Angela Mirandi and Jacqueline Sturdivant. Councilwoman Kate Triggiano voted no. But Councilmen Michael Ballard, who seconded the introduction, voted to abstain as did Councilman Ed Zipprich.

Ballard explained his abstention, saying he wanted to hear the comments from the Fire Department.

Firefighters came in large numbers to the meeting to advocate for an increase in the annual rent the borough pays to the private fire companies. You can see the meeting on the borough Facebook site.

Once it was determined that the introduction failed, a new date for the introduction will need to be set.

Interim Borough Business Administrator and Police Chief Darren McConnell said Thursday "I'm hoping to introduce no later than April 26, which would put adoption in late May."

The total general appropriations for the preliminary budget was $25,881,056.24, according to the resolution to introduce. Anticipated revenues other than current property tax was $10,356,865.83.

The amount to be raised by local taxation for municipal purposes, including the reserve for uncollected taxes, was $14,574,278.24. The minimum library tax was $949,912.17, according to the resolution to introduce.

The budget resolution did not include the entire budget's line items or a comparison with 2022 figures. But apparently more information will be available either for the reintroduction or for the adoption hearing, the council said in response to a question from Nancy Blackwood, a council candidate in the upcoming election and the former chair of the Red Bank Charter Study Commission.

As to the rent issue, the nonprofit fire companies who own the firehouses say the rent the borough pays them has been too low for too long.

The four firehouses have each been paid about $10,000 a year or about $875 a month, said Stuart Jensen of Little Silver, a former chief of the Red Bank Fire Department.

Yearly rent should be $19,000 or more to have kept up with inflation, but in Finance Committee talks with Ballard and Mirandi the fire companies came down to $18,000 a month, he said. Fire companies were under the impression it was agreed they would be charging that going forward.

"We thought we had an agreement, but it's stricken" from the budget, he said.

The $10,000 figure goes back for several years - to 2000 - and has not been increased, firefighters said.

The buildings, one of which is 150 years old, are used not only to house the borough equipment and other storage, but also are used as emergency shelters - such as during Superstorm Sandy - and also for voting locations, Jensen told the council.

The companies maintain the buildings, and also pay for insurance of $4,000 to $7,000 a year on them.

Jensen said the requested rent increase is not excessive.

"We spend way too much time fundraising," he said, adding "we need the money. It's what these members behind me deserve for the work they put in," he said referring to the volunteers standing at the meeting.

Triggiano, herself a volunteer firefighter, said the council should grant the increase. The total would cost "less than a cop car," she said. Triggiano is also a candidate for council in the May 9 nonpartisan election.

Ballard, another candidate in the election, apologized to the fire companies that it has taken so long to address the issue of rent increases.

The impasse seems to involve the mechanism of funding capital improvements for the fire companies, with Mirandi saying how borough bonding for the improvements would help the companies more quickly than putting up "more cash" for buildings the borough does not own.

But Jensen, who was backed up by current Red Bank Fire Department Chief Wayne Hartman in discussing the rent issue, said the fire companies are private and would put aside money, just as a landlord does, toward future repairs.

Municipal bonding is a slower process, dependent on who may be in charge of the council in future years. It also could not address emergency repairs, he said.

Hartman observed that the issue of accountability of how the companies use their funds appears to be a "sticking point."

Jensen said nonprofit fire companies are regulated by the state and are accountable at the state and federal levels as a nonprofit, and are good stewards of the firehouses.

Hartman called on the council to not pass the budget as it stands, saying the funding needs to be increased.

"We've been here performing our services to the borough, its residents, and business owners for over 150 years. Folks, we are not going anyplace," Hartman said.