By ROBERT LINNEHAN | The Voorhees Sun
An incumbent candidate retained her seat on the fire commission, and the Voorhees Fire District saw its 2010 budget passed by an extremely slim margin last week.
The budget — which proposed no increase in the tax levy rate from 2009 — passed by a vote of 367 to 344.
It features no increase in the 2010 fire tax, Fire Chief Jim Pacifico said. The fire tax rate will remain at 12.4 cents per every $100 of assessed property value.
Before the election, Fire Commissioner Bob Dougherty described the budged as fiscally responsible and urged residents to vote in its favor.
The budget, he said, maintained the level of services Voorhees residents have come to expect from the fire district while not raising fire taxes.
Dougherty thanked voters for supporting the 2010 budget and said he and the commissioners were looking forward to another year of service.
“We are just very happy that our budget was passed. The voters came out and supported our budget with no tax increase,” he said. “I’d like to thank all the voters who came out and supported us. We’re looking forward to this year.”
Residents also made the fire commissioner election close, as incumbent candidate Elizabeth McAvoy defended her seat against candidate Carmen Console, winning by the slim margin of 30 votes. McAvoy received 374 votes to Console’s 344.
McAvoy — a 15-year incumbent — and Console — who served on the commission from 2006 to 2008 — both challenged for one three-year seat on the Voorhees Fire Commission.
Maintaining fire district services and keeping costs down will be a challenge for the district in the future, McAvoy said.
“I want to thank all the people who were so supportive of me. I’ve been there 15 years, and our plans right now are to begin construction for the new Kirkwood fire house. Getting our budget passed was so important,” she said. “Right no we can’t hire any new people because of the economy, but perhaps moving into next year we’ll be able to. We’re very thrilled the budget was passed, and we’re very fortunate to have our volunteers and paid employees.”
McAvoy stressed that the fire district cannot be frivolous during this period of the economy.
McAvoy will be sworn into her seat on Thursday, March 4.
For additional information, please visit the Voorhees Fire District Web site at voorheesfire.org.
If interested in volunteering for the district, please call Pacifico at 783–6630 or stop by either fire station on Monday evenings at 7 p.m.
