Evesham Fire District №1 is asking for the public’s support of Evesham Fire District’s proposed 2013 operating budget at the annual Fire District election to be held on Saturday, Feb. 16.
As defined by New Jersey State law, the polls will be open from 2 p.m. to 9 p.m. at all three of Evesham’s fire stations.
The Fire District is asking for the voters to approve our proposed 2013 Operating Budget, which provides for a $30,000 decrease in the operating budget.
The proposed budget plan will allow us to continue to provide superior levels of fire and emergency medical services to the citizens of Evesham Township.
Last year the organization answered more than 1,700 calls for fire service and over 3,600 emergency medical incidents. Additionally, over 4,000 fire inspections were performed resulting in every commercial building in Evesham Township being inspected at least once.
The Evesham Fire District receives only $13,848 in State aid.
In fact, we have never relied on any major funding from the State to make up our annual operational budgets. Therefore, we have not had to undergo any significant changes in our operations to make up for reductions in State aid.
In addition to the question on the annual operating budget, voters are also being asked to approve a bond referendum for two replacement aerial apparatus. The current aerial apparatus are the oldest heavy trucks in the township fleet and will be more than 18 years old when the replacement apparatus arrives.
This bond referendum will fund the replacement of these two aging pieces of apparatus; no new apparatus is being added to the fleet.
The Evesham Fire District is by far the lowest per capita cost fire department in our area. This is a fact that we are very proud of, as these costs not only include fire protection, but ambulance service and commercial business fire inspections as well. We also use the largest number of volunteers (115) of any fire district in the area to deliver not only top quality, but also cost effective fire and ambulance service. Our use of this blend of local resident highly trained volunteers along with a top-notch career staff has served to both keep our operating cost low and, more importantly our fire and ambulance protection delivery services at a high level, which our residents both demand and deserve.
All of the proposed annual operating budget and bond referendum information can be found on our website at www.eveshamfire.org
For further information, contact Chief Ted Lowden at (856) 983–2210 or Fire District Business Administrator Paul Thomas at (856) 983–2750.
