Newtown Twp. Ups The Cost Of Fire Services Agreement With The Borough

NEWTOWN TOWNSHIP, PA — Newtown Borough will have to dig a lot deeper in its pocket next year for the use of township fire services, under a pending agreement with the township.

Not happy with the course of negotiations with the borough, the supervisors voted 3 to 2 Wednesday night to direct its solicitor to send its neighbor a one-year agreement that would charge the borough $350,000, which is $75,000 more than what the township had reached in a 4 to 1 consensus in October.

Supervisor John Mack, who had earlier agreed to $275,000, joined supervisors Phil Calabro and Kyle Davis in seeking $350,000 for the services.

Supervisors Elen Snyder and Dennis Fisher, who had been in talks with the borough as part of the township’s negotiating team, supported charging the borough $275,000.

“We have worked diligently with the borough to no avail,” said Snyder before the vote. “We offered them a work session to work out a (fair share) contract. I’m sticking with $275,000 even though that is a very low number. But I made a promise and I’m going to stick to the promise. But I made it clear that in coming years it’s going to rise drastically.”

Supervisor Phil Calabro accused Snyder of supporting the borough at the expense of township taxpayers. Calabro, who has been arguing for a much larger contribution from the borough, accused Snyder of “dropping the ball. You’re catering to the borough when it’s the people of the township who pay for us to be up here, not the borough.”

Resident Eric Pomerance agreed with Calabro, asking why the borough isn’t being asked to pay its fair share of the tax burden.

“As long as they have a budget that hasn’t wiped out all of their discretionary spending and the essential services, it’s really overstepping to ask the township citizens to absorb a millage increase where the borough isn’t going to be paying its fair share,” he said.

Snyder explained that during the negotiations, they were working with the borough to come to a “rate that they could sustain.”

Pomerance shot back, “That isn’t our job to determine what they can sustain. Our job is to help determine what we can sustain and to minimize the amount we have to pay.”

Snyder said she would be “sticking with the $275,000 even though that’s a very low number, but I made a promise and I’m sticking to that amount.”

Driving the increase in cost is the dwindling number of volunteer firefighters and the township’s continued transition to a paid crew to cover the shortfall in coverage.