Residents voted down the purchase of two new fire trucks for the Medford Farms Fire Company on Saturday, Feb. 16.
“We’re disheartened by the vote. The trucks we use now will continue to be under federal standards,” public information officer of the fire company Shawn Vena said.
Fire commissioner John Burger said during the Feb. 6 township committee meeting the two fire trucks currently in use, 4311, a 20-year-old pumper tanker truck, and the 22-year-old 4318 truck, are creating a financial burden stemming from constant maintenance costs.
Truck 4318 responded to 12 emergency calls out of a total of 361 calls during 2012.
As a result, the company wanted to purchase two new trucks: a class A pumper and a Class A pumper tanker.
According to Vena, the trucks are only supposed to be used in frontline service up to 20 years.
Without the new trucks, taxeithout the new trucks, the costs of maintaining 4311 and 4318 will likely accumulate.
“A truck that only runs 12 times a year [but] will still be in service is only adding to insurance costs and adding to maintenance costs,” Vena said.
This is the fourth time the company has asked the public’s assistance in purchasing new trucks.
“The townspeople asked two years ago to be transparent. The fire district has been transparent,” Vena said. “Each time the residents are asked to purchase trucks, it’s turned down. As a result, it raises taxes.”
According to Vena and Burger, the purchase of the new trucks would not have affected taxes.
“At this point, it’s hard to say how it will affect us long term because without the trucks being passed we’re trying to keep the tax rate at a steady level,” Burger said. “In the long run, the taxes could go down but eventually they’ll go back up. It’s hard to say at this point what it will look like because we’re not sure what will happen.”
The fire district has the ability to hold a special election to ask for new trucks again, but the company is unsure if a vote will happen. The fate of the aging trucks has yet to be determined.
“The possibility of a truck going out of service because of its age is highly possible,” Vena said. “Reducing the fleet by a truck, should it break down or have to be repaired, since it’s 22-years old, things are bound to break compared to a new truck which doesn’t have as many issues, could affect us negatively.”
In addition to voting on the trucks, residents approved the fire district’s budget of $539,763.
Both officials are pleased with the budget outcome, as it didn’t stray from last year’s numbers.
“It was a straightforward election. We’re happy the residents passed the budget,” Burger said. “We were just hoping this time the trucks would pass for all residents to be financially responsible on behalf of the board. We were trying to fulfill responsibilities. “
When the EMS building was built, residents on the eastern side of the township were promised the placement of a truck in the building.
“Hopefully in the future we’ll be able to fulfill those responsibilities. We want to thank everyone for coming out and voting and invite everyone to come out to our meetings,” Burger said.
Meetings are held the third Thursday of every month at 8 p.m. at the firehouse, located at Route 206 and Hawkin Road.
