Fire district will review new budget Public hearing scheduled at Millstone firehouse on Jan. 22 BY JENNIFER KOHLHEPP Staff Writer MILLSTONE - Taxpayers who would like to know how the fire department intends to spend their taxes this year should attend a public hearing later this month. Millstone Township Fire District No. 1 has scheduled a public budget hearing at 8 p.m. on Jan. 22 at the Millstone Fire Department firehouse, located on Stagecoach Road. "This is your opportunity to go to the fire department and look at the budget, find out what's going on and make a decision if you want to support or don't want to support it," Mayor Nancy Grbelja said. "We want residents to be decisive in what they choose to do because [the fire budget] impacts tax dollars, and it's not something [the Township Committee] controls." Grbelja announced the fire district's public budget hearing during the new-business portion of the Jan. 3 Township Committee meeting. Township Committeeman Elias Abilheira, who was unable to attend the meeting due to a professional obligation, said he asked the committee to put the public hearing information on the agenda. Abilheira had asked the township's fire commissioners to try to do a better job publicizing their budget needs to taxpayers when voters failed to approve the fire district's proposed budget two years in a row. Voters rejected the fire district's $1.3 million proposed budget last year and also turned down its proposed $1.1 million budget the year before. During the 2005 fire district election, voters turned down a $100,000 referendum as well, which would have allotted funding for renovations to the Millstone Township firehouse. Because residents rejected the budgets, the Township Committee ultimately had to review them and make cuts. Last year, after a public hearing, the Township Committee unanimously voted to reduce the portion of the fire budget paid by taxpayers by demanding that fire commissioners use $100,000 of their $180,000 surplus. The fire district had to rely on last year's tax levy of approximately $1.05 million, meaning that last year the average township homeowner paid about 7.7 cents per $100 of assessed property value in fire taxes. The average homeowner with a home assessed at the township average of $395,400 therefore paid about $307 in fire taxes. After the proposed fire budget failed in 2005 and again in 2006, the Township Committee asked fire commissioners to better educate the public about the fire budget prior to the next fire district election. The committee suggested advertising public meetings on the spending plan and making budget information available to the community through the fire district's Web site. Abilheira said the public hearing on this year's proposed budget will allow residents to obtain information about the budget and ask questions so they can make an informed decision when they take to the polls in the upcoming fire district election.