Township, Fire District reach budget agreement Township cut $10K from budget, leaving taxpayers with 3-cent increase BY KATHY CHANG Staff Writer WOODBRIDGE - The Port Reading Fire District No. 2 reached an agreement with the Township Council last week to take a $10,000 cut to their proposed $1,395,931 tax levy, which was defeated by a vote of 196 to 195 during fire budget elections on Feb. 17. "Even though it is a $10,000 deduction, we are happy with the results," said Brian Dziedzic, president of the Fire District 2 Board of Commissioners. "The council looked at all the aspects of our budget and took safety seriously." The new amount that will be raised by taxation will be $1,385,931. The new tax rate will be 62 cents per $100 of assessed valuation, which is up 3 cents from last year. The new tax rate will mean an annual fire tax bill of $464 for the average home in Woodbridge assessed at approximately $75,000. Dziedzic said he hoped the district could save the $10,000 through the township Joint Insurance Fund (JIF), which is an interlocal agreement with the township. The council will make the final decision to accept the Port Reading Fire District's application for JIF. Township Clerk John Mitch said other fire districts and first aid squads throughout the township have been joining JIF and have been seeing savings. Both Ken Galvach, board president of the fire commissioners, and Dziedzic said even though the district looked at their budget meticulously and made minimal additions, they had to incur the $77,000 increase in total appropriations from last year. "We had to incur the increases in state-mandated fees," said Dziedzic. "Increases to pensions and other fees including utilities and contractual increases that all had to unfortunately be put in the budget." The Port Reading Fire District includes nine paid full-time firefighters - with salaries, wages and benefits combined for $825,000 - and over 20 volunteer firefighters. The district also supports the Port Reading First Aid Squad - $32,800 for insurance and $16,000 for materials. "We all share the same building," said Dziedzic. The last time the fire district budget was defeated was in 2003. An agreement made between the township and the Denver-based distribution facilities developer ProLogis in January has made it possible for the fire district and first aid squad to receive $500,000 toward new equipment - a new fire truck and a new ambulance - from the township.