Another low voter turnout marked a Hillsborough Township Board of Fire Commissioners election this year, with the two incumbents needing nearly 260 votes to secure their re-election bids for another three-year term.
Last Saturday, the polls opened for seven hours at the municipal building to give voters a chance to not only vote on who will sit on the board, but also determine whether the district would get the $3.55 million budget for 2018.
According to unofficial counts provided by Board of Fire Commissioners Chairman Charlie Nuara, incumbents Pat Buckley and Mike Carone will return to the board after receiving 257 and 256 votes, respectively. Their counterparts, Judy Faulkner and Rollin Rathbun earned 163 votes and 96 votes.
Nuara called the results a win for the fire board and the township, touting Buckley and Carone’s last three years as fire commissioners.
“I’m happy that the incumbents are staying in because they’ve done a lot of work with us over the past three years and they’ve done a good job,” Nuara said. “I expect they’re going continue to do as well.”
According to the Hillsborough Board of Fire Commissioners website, Carone currently serves as the board’s treasurer, while Buckley is head of safety.
As for the 2018 budget, the small voting block that came out also voted in support of the fire commissioners’ spending plan by a nearly 2-to-1 ratio, with 191 people voting in favor and 89 voting to deny its passage.
Of the $3.55 million requested in the budget, approximately $2.62 million will be collected from residents through taxes.
In addition, voters approved three ballot questions regarding the future acquisition of two new pumper trucks and a brush fire truck in the 2019 budget. According to officials, all three purchases will be done in an effort to replace similar apparatuses that are more than 20-25 years old.
“[We need to] make the necessary changes, work with the fire chiefs and keep the budget as low as we can expect while knowing that there are things that need to be replaced as they age,” Nuara said.
The two pumper trucks are valued at approximately $800,000 and the brush fire truck is estimated to cost approximately $100,000. With Saturday’s approval, all three items will be placed on the 2019 budget.
