Public Hearing on Dissolving Spring Lake Heights Fire District Postponed to Sept. 12

Expecting yet another heated discussion over salvaging the Spring Lake Height Fire District, firefighters came out in force for Monday night’s borough council meeting.

But once the firefighters learned that the pending dissolution of their unit would not come up for discussion for another month, they cleared the meeting room at Borough Hall.

The month-long delay in holding the public hearing on the controversial issue resulted from the failure of the state’s Local Finance Board to meet as scheduled on Aug. 10 in Trenton according to Mayor Frances Enright.

“The Local Finance Board did not have a quorum [in order] to meet,” Enright announced to those present in council chambers. “They might meet this Friday [Aug. 18].”

The second reading and public hearing on the pending ordinance to dismantle the district and a council vote is now expected at the governing body's next scheduled meeting on Sept. 12.

The public hearing will be advertised in local newspapers as was the one scheduled for Monday night.

The council is depending upon the Local Finance Board to approve its pending application to the state Department of Community Affairs (DCA) to abolish the 22-year-old independent fire district. The council, acting on a resolution passed on May 2 to dissolve the district, submitted the DCA application in June.

The Local Finance Board is assigned by the DCA to review all of the district’s financial documents including its budget, debts, and assets prior to authorizing the dissolution process.

Until the Local Finance Board reviews and renders a decision on the DCA application, the council is prohibited from voting upon the pending ordinance to dissolve the district.

Once the district is dissolved, the Spring Lake Heights Independent Fire Company will be funded by a line item in the borough's annual budget. Since its formation in 1989, the district has had its own budget and elections separate from the borough’s calendar budget and elections.

Borough resident John Lewis had led the charge to dismantle the district as a means of eliminating a taxpayer-supported entity. Lewis presented a petition bearing 200 of the borough's 3,636 registered voters asking for a council vote on the issue last spring.

However, leaders of the fire district have filed suit in Monmouth County Superior Court to block the dissolution and are hoping to have the resolution overturned. District leaders have argued that being funded by a line item in the council budget will result in less money for fire fighting equipment and training.