Newton Council approves $800K for work to fix up Fire Station No. 1
NEWTON - With renovations on the inside of the Mill Street firehouse complete, the town is moving to fixing up the outside of the building with the introduction of an ordinance to spend up to $800,000 on those repairs.
At its last meeting, the Town Council set Feb. 26 for the public hearing and possible final vote on the legislation which authorizes borrowing $760,000 toward the project and using $40,000 from existing funds as down payment required by state laws.
The building, also known as Firehouse #1, houses the volunteer department's ladder truck, rescue truck and a pumper truck. The firehouse has two levels, the lower being the main floor where the trucks are parked, with an upper floor containing offices and meeting rooms.
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The council also scheduled two other public hearings for the upcoming meeting, one to make changes to the Length of Service Award Program for the volunteer First Aid Squad and the other for a cap bank for this year's municipal budget.
The cap bank is a routine bookkeeping process allowed by state law which sets an increase, or cap, on this year's budget and allows for any money not expended in that finally approved budget to be applied to the budgets in the following two years.
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In theory, use of such "cap banks" allows a municipality to even out the effect of budget increases on tax rates from year-to-year, but can only be put in place after a public hearing on the maneuver.
Under the LOSAP program, volunteers with the ambulance corps earn points for activities done during the year. Those points can then be used for cash or annuity payments when the volunteers "retire" from the corps in the future. The points are awarded for items such as serving as an officer, responses to incidents and continuing education.
The council approved an overnight parking program for residents and night workers who use the Adams Street, Western Plaza, Main Street and Central Plaza parking lots. Those lots are metered for daytime and non-permit users.
This article originally appeared on New Jersey Herald: Newton NJ Council OKs $800K for work to fix up fire station
