A Laurelton Fire Company truck. (Credit: Brick Fire)
The Brick Township council this week, under the second year of a state mandated process, set the salaries of the township’s fire commissioners this week.
Municipal councils, since 2021, are required to review and approve the compensation of elected commissioners each year. Three groups of commissioners – a group for each of the township’s three fire districts – serve the township and stand for election in February, along with a referendum on approval of the fire district budget. Voters do not receive notification of the election date by mail. The goal of the state salary legislation was to increase transparency within fire districts.
The salaries for Brick’s commissioners will go unchanged this year. Each of the three districts has five members. Those who serve in district 1 and 2 are paid $7,000 each, and the District 3 salaries reflect a long-standing agreement on duties – the commissioners for Fire District 3 have not hired paid staff, leading some of their members to receive significantly higher salaries.
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The compensation breaks down as follows:
- Fire District 1: Five Commissioners
Commissioners’ Salary: $7,000 annually, per commissioner.
Location Served: District 1 spans the southern-most half of the Township, from the Toms River Township border, north and west to the Lakewood border. It also covers just over a mile of oceanfront area, bordered by Mantoloking on the north and Toms River on the south.) - Fire District 2: Five Commissioners
Commissioners’ Salary: $7,000 annually, per commissioner.
Location Served: Fire District 2 comprises the central portion of the Township, north and east of the Metedeconk River and Forge Pond, southwest of the Point Pleasant Boro border. - Fire District 3: Five Commissioners
Commissioners’ Salary: President, $44,500; Vice President, $5,000; Treasurer, $19,500; Secretary, $6,500; Commissioner at Large, $6,500.
Area Served: Fire District 3 covers the northernmost section of the town, bordered by Fire District #2 to the south, the Howell and Wall township borders to the north, and the Wall and Brielle borders to the east.
The total salary for the president of Fire District 3, currently James J. Lepore, includes $5,000 contributions from each district as part of the $44,500 package since he performs work for all of the fire districts in town.
Though the mayor and council review the salaries, they do not set them. Compensation is adopted by the commissioners themselves after voting on a resolution at a public meeting.
Brick’s fire companies are all made up of volunteers, however some professional staff is required to run a fire service that covers a 30 square-mile city with 75,000 residents, officials have said.
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