At the Dec. 23 Long Branch City Council meeting a resident raised pointed questions about the city's practice of issuing $5,350 annual "rent" payments to volunteer fire companies.

The commenter, identified in the record as Vincent Laporte, said the city purchased 46 Atlantic Avenue on March 13, 2023, for $650,000 and asked why Resolution 284 authorized a $5,350 rent payment for 2024 to the Oliver Byron Fire Company when the city owned the building for the full year. He said the building was not occupied by the fire company during 2024 and questioned the rationale for continuing payments. Laporte also asked whether a rent check went to an individual who had recently separated employment from the city and who he said was the subject of a Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office investigation for alleged falsification and destruction of government records.

Council President Viera and city staff responded that the line in the budget characterized as "rent" in practice funds subsidies to volunteer organizations, explaining the city has historically made small annual stipends to volunteer fire companies. "That's the way they've always characterized it," Viera said, and he described the payments as ongoing support for volunteer fire organizations. Viera declined to answer some direct questions from the resident during the public comment period and warned that public accusations could lead to defamation exposure.

The meeting record does not show the council taking formal action on the payments during the Dec. 23 meeting. The resident framed the payments as a recurring subsidy that, in his view, should be scrutinized when firehouses are vacant or organizations have moved locations. The council's explanation framed the payments as a budgeted subsidy; no documentary backup for the payments or any adjustment was presented on the record that night.

The transcript contains varied spellings for some organization names (for example, "Oliver Byron Fire Company," "Atlantic engine company," and "Elbron engine company"). Those variants appear in the public comment exchange and are listed here as quoted in the record; further verification from city financial records or the resolutions themselves would clarify recipients and payees for the cited payments.