Franklin Council sets Fire District 4 budget at $48,573.66 after election rejection and lengthy dispute with South Brunswick

Franklin Township Council adopted a calendar-year 2025 budget for Fire District 4 of $48,573.66 on a recorded roll-call vote after voters rejected the fire district’s submitted budget at a special election.

The Council voted to set the budget after months of review and a public hearing that included presentations from Council member Potasnik, township staff and representatives of South Brunswick Fire District 3 and Fire District 4. Council member Potasnik, who presented the township’s recalculation, said the move was driven by an effort to align Franklin’s payment with equalized property values. “Ensuring that there's good strong fire coverage is a number 1 priority,” Potasnik told the council, while also arguing that costs must be shared fairly.

The nut of the dispute centered on how to apportion costs in the contract between Franklin’s Fire District 4 and South Brunswick’s District 3. South Brunswick’s budget presentation had shown line-item allocations that Franklin officials interpreted in whole-dollar terms as a 10% allocation to Franklin; township staff recalculated shared items and applied county equalization tables to arrive at a 5.7% ratable share for Franklin. Potasnik explained the approach in a slide presentation that traced the prior years’ charges and the changes in assessed values used to equalize ratables.

Representatives of South Brunswick objected to some of the township’s math. “The numbers that you used are erroneous,” Steve Matabianco, chairman of South Brunswick Fire District 3, said during the meeting. South Brunswick officials said their budget reflects costs they must carry, including added paid staffing to address daytime coverage as volunteer availability has declined.

Officials from Fire District 4 described service alternatives if South Brunswick declined a reduced payment. A District 4 representative said the existing shared-services contract includes a 60-day extension provision after March 31, and that the district had contacted other neighboring departments about potential coverage if needed. Christina Clem, treasurer for Fire District 4, told the council the district had budgeted based on numbers from South Brunswick but did not yet have an executed contract for 2025.

Township staff and council members emphasized the limited number of calls that originate on the Franklin side of Kingston and the need to avoid having Franklin residents pay at a materially higher rate than taxpayers on the South Brunswick side for the same market-value properties. Potasnik’s recalculation produced the $48,573.66 figure presented to council as the township’s recommended budget to set under NJSA 40A:14-78.5 and NJSA 40A:14-79 after the district budget was rejected by voters.

The council’s action followed public comment from Franklin residents and representatives of the Kingston volunteer company who urged fair but continuing coverage; South Brunswick officials warned that reduced payments could affect their ability to maintain paid daytime staffing. Fire and emergency leaders stressed that mutual aid provisions and state rules require response to emergencies across district lines, but they also flagged practical limits if contract negotiations fail.

The resolution passed on a roll-call vote recorded in the minutes. Council members recorded in favor included Council member Embarrassing, Councilman Carazzi, Mayor Philip Kramer, Councilman Onejaca, Council member Potasnik, Deputy Mayor Mary Dean, Councilman Vasanella and Councilman Wright. The council instructed staff to provide the recalculation and supporting spreadsheet to South Brunswick and to continue negotiating in the weeks ahead.

The council and the fire districts also discussed several implementation details that remain unresolved, including whether radios or other capital items that facilitate cross-border response should be considered shared expenses and how incremental versus fixed costs should be apportioned. South Brunswick commissioners said some budget items reflect genuine, district-wide overhead that cannot be carved out without reducing service capacity. Franklin officials countered that several line items were 100% South Brunswick expenses in the South Brunswick budget and therefore should not have been allocated to Franklin.

The council’s adopted budget now gives the Fire District 4 commissioners a final figure to work with while the district and South Brunswick negotiate a contract or pursue alternate coverage options before the March 31 contract deadline and any 60-day extension provision, if exercised.

Ending: Council members and fire commissioners said they expected further discussions in the coming weeks as both sides decide whether they can reach a negotiated contract at the recalculated level or find other coverage arrangements.