ATTN MAYOR Save Money - Merge FD & PD

[Guest ITS COMMON SENSE]

Harrison, EN and Kearny are in deep financial trouble. Loss of state aid will lead to massive tax hikes which can not be afforded by taxpayers, many who have lost their jobs and are on fixed incomes.

It is time to stop with the layoffs and merge the Police and Fire Depts into the West Hudson Police and Fire Depts. One Chief for both the merged depts. The same can be done to the DPW, Water Dept, etc. MERGE MERGE MERGE!!!!!!

By Merging the Police & Fire Departments, we can save a ton of money by having less high ranking officers, FOR EXAMPLE

PD

1 Police Chief instead of 2

1 or 2 Deputy instead of 5 - K(3) H(2)

4 Captains instead of 8

Fewer Lt's & Sgt's

FD

1 Fire Chief instead of 2

5 Deputy Chiefs instead of 10

1 Training Captain instead of 2

Less Fire Captains with 1 dept

CUT THE COST BY HALF!!!!!! THE TOWNS DOESN'T HAVE TO MERGE BUT THE DEPARTMENTS CAN!!!!!! SAVE MONEY AND MERGE MERGE MERGE!!!

It's COMMON SENSE

[Guest guest]

Hey buddy, if you merge the two departments, they are still going to have the same number of people employed unless you plan on firing all the guys you said will be cut down on. yeah we would have one chief, but what happens to the other two chiefs? That goes all the way down the list.

[Guest All 4 the merge]

Great Idea and if there was 1- West Hudson Police and 1- West Hudson Fire and 1- West Hudson DPW. Then commons sense would dictate that there should be 1- West Hudson Mayor and 1- West Hudson Counsel and 1- West Hudson Board of Education with 1- superintendant and everyone would be 1 big happy West Hudson Family. Lets do it all the way or no way. It's Common Sense

[Guest Guest]

Great Idea and if there was 1- West Hudson Police and 1- West Hudson Fire and 1- West Hudson DPW. Then commons sense would dictate that there should be 1- West Hudson Mayor and 1- West Hudson Counsel and 1- West Hudson Board of Education with 1- superintendant and everyone would be 1 big happy West Hudson Family. Lets do it all the way or no way. It's Common Sense

It's called regionalized services or shared services. Perfect example, in 1999 five municipalities consisting of Guttenberg, North Bergen, Weehawken, West New York and Union City unilaterally decided to merge their individual fire departments into a single department under the newly created North Hudson Regional Fire & Rescue.

North Hudson Regional Fire and Rescue serves the northern most section of Hudson County. The region borders Jersey City, Hoboken and Secaucus at its southern-most end and Bergen County at the northern border. The region lies due west and across the Hudson River from Manhattan.

North Hudson Regional Fire and Rescue is the third largest Fire Department in the State of New Jersey. North Hudson is responsible for the fire and emergency incident protection of over 195,000 residents. The Department also protects approximately 50,000 individuals who transit and work in the community.

The region served by North Hudson is the most densly populated area in the United States. Population density aveages over 36,000 people per square mile, with some areas of the region exceeding 56,000 people per square mile.

The Department provides fire and rescue protection to a geographic district of 10 square miles, including over 4 miles of shoreline along the Hudson River. There are over 74,000 housing units within the region, with a density exceeding 36,000 housing units per square mile.

The area protected includes lakes, rivers, streams, high rise buildings, bridges, the Lincoln Tunnel, Amtrak Tunnel, Light Rail, railroads, large industrial and commercial structures, shopping centers, retail stores, town homes, condominiums, schools, one and two family dwellings, apartment buildings of pre 1920's construction, congested highways, hazardous materials in transit and storage.

The reason for the merger was to provide a safer, more economical fire department. The department currently boasts a slightly under 2 minute response time to fires against a national standard of a 5 minute response time to fires.

Witness the 1999 merger of the five fire departments. It took about one year to complete the merger. In the first year of consolidation, the new department saved about $3 million by eliminating two firehouses, three of its five chiefs, two department chiefs (and their six-figure salaries), six captains, and between 25 and 30 firefighters from the five-town total of 337.

The result: The average property tax bill in the five towns went down about $400.

SOUNDS LIKE A GOOD IDEA TO ME. (And I'm not a cop)

[Guest guest]

It's called regionalized services or shared services. Perfect example, in 1999 five municipalities consisting of Guttenberg, North Bergen, Weehawken, West New York and Union City unilaterally decided to merge their individual fire departments into a single department under the newly created North Hudson Regional Fire & Rescue.

North Hudson Regional Fire and Rescue serves the northern most section of Hudson County. The region borders Jersey City, Hoboken and Secaucus at its southern-most end and Bergen County at the northern border. The region lies due west and across the Hudson River from Manhattan.

North Hudson Regional Fire and Rescue is the third largest Fire Department in the State of New Jersey. North Hudson is responsible for the fire and emergency incident protection of over 195,000 residents. The Department also protects approximately 50,000 individuals who transit and work in the community.

The region served by North Hudson is the most densly populated area in the United States. Population density aveages over 36,000 people per square mile, with some areas of the region exceeding 56,000 people per square mile.

The Department provides fire and rescue protection to a geographic district of 10 square miles, including over 4 miles of shoreline along the Hudson River. There are over 74,000 housing units within the region, with a density exceeding 36,000 housing units per square mile.

The area protected includes lakes, rivers, streams, high rise buildings, bridges, the Lincoln Tunnel, Amtrak Tunnel, Light Rail, railroads, large industrial and commercial structures, shopping centers, retail stores, town homes, condominiums, schools, one and two family dwellings, apartment buildings of pre 1920's construction, congested highways, hazardous materials in transit and storage.

The reason for the merger was to provide a safer, more economical fire department. The department currently boasts a slightly under 2 minute response time to fires against a national standard of a 5 minute response time to fires.

Witness the 1999 merger of the five fire departments. It took about one year to complete the merger. In the first year of consolidation, the new department saved about $3 million by eliminating two firehouses, three of its five chiefs, two department chiefs (and their six-figure salaries), six captains, and between 25 and 30 firefighters from the five-town total of 337.

The result: The average property tax bill in the five towns went down about $400.

SOUNDS LIKE A GOOD IDEA TO ME. (And I'm not a cop)

you are out of your mind, ask anyone who lives in union city how FAIR the new set up is. While they close fire houses in their towns, other towns get full service, and costs have gone up for the municipalities because not every town contributes the same amounts. The north hudson fire failure is the reason why no other towns have gone to that type of service. your living in a dream world. If it worked everyone would have gone to it by now.

[Guest Guest]

you are out of your mind, ask anyone who lives in union city how FAIR the new set up is. While they close fire houses in their towns, other towns get full service, and costs have gone up for the municipalities because not every town contributes the same amounts. The north hudson fire failure is the reason why no other towns have gone to that type of service. your living in a dream world. If it worked everyone would have gone to it by now.

I hate to bust your bubble there Fire Marshall Bill but it's coming. Maybe not this week or next month or next year but it's coming.

WEST HUDSON FIRE AND RESCUE.

[Guest Guest]

I hate to bust your bubble there Fire Marshall Bill but it's coming. Maybe not this week or next month or next year but it's coming.

WEST HUDSON FIRE AND RESCUE.

Regionalization may indeed come to West Hudson, and it MAY even work, but you haven't addressed the comments made about the experiment in North Hudson. There is an inequity between coverage and cost within that regional department. Whether the inequity is real or perceived, it creates a problem from one City Hall to the next. In addition to this, you have local governments who love "home rule", and you have a problem.

I will not say that the departments can't be regionalized, but there are significant problems that have to be ironed out BEFORE it can work.

And insulting posters really adds a lot to your point, can't you just make the argument with out trying to impugn someone.

[Guest Guest]

While I agree with the concerns in regard to public safety, I would have to agree with the mayor and council in the lay offs. The Town is under a 2%tax cap, therefore something must be done and raising taxes is not the answer. If supporters have an idea on what to cut or do something else without raising taxes, then I suggest you propose your idea to the mayor and council. If the PD and FD are so closely connected with one another, then I would recommend that they cut their own salaries in order to save their fellow buddies from the layoffs (I presume this would never happen though). These high salaries around the town ranging from the PD&FD to school administrators are a huge burden on the taxpayer and unless salaries are decreased, services will need to be cut, layoffs will occur, etc.

[Guest Kearny born and raised]

While I agree with the concerns in regard to public safety, I would have to agree with the mayor and council in the lay offs. The Town is under a 2%tax cap, therefore something must be done and raising taxes is not the answer. If supporters have an idea on what to cut or do something else without raising taxes, then I suggest you propose your idea to the mayor and council. If the PD and FD are so closely connected with one another, then I would recommend that they cut their own salaries in order to save their fellow buddies from the layoffs (I presume this would never happen though). These high salaries around the town ranging from the PD&FD to school administrators are a huge burden on the taxpayer and unless salaries are decreased, services will need to be cut, layoffs will occur, etc.

The cap can be surpassed if voted for in a referendum. The Mayor was asked to do this, he probably won't tell you that. Safety is a concern for all of us, but for him it is a RESPONSIBILITY. I don't know if that referendum would have passed, I know its outrageous that the Mayor and a third ward Councilwoman would not explore it as an OPTION. Apparently, they are okay with rolling the dice.

[Guest Guest]

While I agree with the concerns in regard to public safety, I would have to agree with the mayor and council in the lay offs. The Town is under a 2%tax cap, therefore something must be done and raising taxes is not the answer. If supporters have an idea on what to cut or do something else without raising taxes, then I suggest you propose your idea to the mayor and council. If the PD and FD are so closely connected with one another, then I would recommend that they cut their own salaries in order to save their fellow buddies from the layoffs (I presume this would never happen though). These high salaries around the town ranging from the PD&FD to school administrators are a huge burden on the taxpayer and unless salaries are decreased, services will need to be cut, layoffs will occur, etc.

If you went to the Town Council meeting in the beginning of July, the CFO gave hard numbers on how much the Budget of each department had to be cut to avoid the Layoffs. In the case of the Police Dept it was, IIRC, $580,000, and $475,000 for the Fire Dept. The PBA Came up with a Plan, through several retirements, and a giveback that would reduce the Departmental budget by $610,000. $30K MORE than the town said they needed to be cut. Miraculously not a WEEK after this proposal was put to the mayor and Council..Suddenly they had made a "Mistake", and NOW all of a sudden, the number that needed to be cut was $1.6 Million. The Fire Dept's FMBA made similar concessions, to be told the same thing. It seems, that the Unions are TRYING to meet the demands made by the Mayor..only to be told, when they DO meet and/or exceed those demands.."Sorry it's not enough". Seems to me that the Mayor WANTS these Demotions and layoffs, and NOTHING anyone does is going to stop them. By the time he's done Santos is going to make the Vartan cuts look positively Spartan.