Long-time Fire Commissioner Mike D’Elia has been re-elected as Fore Commissioner this evening. D’Elia, who ran unopposed, won by 186 votes. A total of 202 votes were cast.
The budget was voted down 141-95.
“I’m hoping we can continue to operate the Fire Department in a way that the town needs,” D’Elia told TLS. “The town needs good fire protection, and we’re hoping to be able to continue.”
Fire Commissioner terms are three years.
Congrats Mike. Great to have you still on the board.
next year we have two guys up for reelection that will be voted down!
Even though the budget was less than last year it was voted down. That just proves that Lakewood could care less about the FD. This will probably disgust a lot of firefighters and they will leave. Then the town can provide a PAID FIRE DEPARTMENT at a GREATLY INCREASED BUDGET and, therefore, up the TAXES.
For the third year in a row the town voted down the F.D. budget. A budget that is not high at all for a dept that works great. But every year you keep voteing for a school budget and township budget that are both high and broken. Thanks to all who voted
All of 236 people voted. And on top of that the vote was on a Saturday. This in no way reflects how the town feels about the FD. We all appreciate them very much.
budget voted down DISGUSTING ,to those who voted against the budget I have to ask WHY ??????????????
Come on. Everybody knows that 140 people don’t represent even 1 per cent of town and means nothing .
The fire department – “We all appreciate them very much.”
evidently not enough. The polls were kept open an extra hour as compared to other towns throughout the state where the polls close at 9PM. Absentee ballots are advertised weeks in advance for this vote as well as all others , so really there is NO excuse to not come out support the few people in this town who risk their lives for no pay to protect the 90,000 + residents who call Lakewood home.
You have second chance to show your support when the township reviews this budget. Let them know that you don’t want anything cut out of the budget because there is NOTHING left to cut after three years of cuts. If you dont believe the 4 Goyim on the board ask Larry, the budget was a good one and too bad some in town will not be happen until they do away with the fire dept and hand out leather water buckets for the citizens to put out their own fires.
I honestly didn’t know there where elections tonight! I bet most of the town didn’t!
I say go FD give’em whatever they need!
How in the world is ANYONE suppose to know about the facts and figures of the budget? They think that voting it down will save money. If this is not the case, then the fire dept should publish ads explaining this to the public!
You guys are taking these things way too personal. As a public official we should all know that people say and do things that don’t make sense mostly out of ignorance. Don’t get so bent out of shape , it will put a damper on the job you chose to do and love so much. Good luck guys!!
oh well here we go again
It seems every year people dislike our budget because they pay too much..if you look around the towns surrounding ours we are quite cheaper than most of them. Actually we are cheaper than all of them. We run a tight business, we don’t ask for equipment with all the bells and whistles like most departments have, we have been more than reasonable to ask for what we need when we need it. People do not understand it takes money to run a department. As a firefighter in lakewood I pride myself on the performance and productivity I give as a volunteer, but its getting harder and harder to volunteer here. Traffic is crazy during the day, there are 90+ thousand people living in this town. If you think the population has steadied..your wrong we are still growing and growing. It is going to be a rough year, there is no fat in our budget, the Commissioners have said that in the past. Why does no one believe them or us..Its about safety OURS and Yours.
Thank you
I voted for Mr. Delia however, I voted against the budget because it has way too many expenses that are not needed.
It’s truly disheartening that the budget has been voted down once again. If those who voted no truly knew what it takes not only to operate a FD but to also knew the time and sacrifices made by the members of the department then it would possibly be a different outcome , but until such people become members they can’t and will never truly understand what it takes to be part of such a great thing.
Congratulations Mike.
It is a bitter pill to see that the budget was once again defeated, but LFD needs to do the best that you can with the resources that you have.
The belief by some, that residents will save money by voting the Fire budget down is false. All of the emergency services need to be financed to the level of service that is needed.
Lakewood’s 98,000 + residents and a housing stock of approximately
40,000 dwellings, needs a robust, well financed, well trained, an appreciated department. They are indeed Lakewood’s Bravest.
First of all, I had no clue that there were fire elections this week until Friday, but it was too late for me to vote, as I had already made plans to be out of town for the weekend.
Secondly, yes, I would have voted against the budget because I had no clue what was in it. This is NOT personal. Seriously, how am I supposed to know what I’m voting on if you guys don’t tell us. Why didn’t you release the budget to the public on TLS or in the Shopper so that we can make an informed decision? The fact that you didn’t release the budget tells me that there is something to hide. I will not make the same mistake as Congressional democrats who voted for the ObamaCare mess without knowing what they were voting for.
I will continue to vote down any budget that is not made public or that I do not agree with.
This has nothing to do with the firefighters who we appreciate very much for all they do for our town.
This has everything to do with transparency.
To the comment above complaining about the town budget and the school budget being much more than the fire budget: are you sleeping? Have you not noticed that every single town budget and school budget gets voted down by the public, just like the fire budget?
If you want the public to accept your budget, you need to be more transparent with your numbers. Show us the budget and explain it all, and convince us.
Until that happens, we will vote down every budget, in every department.
Hey #13:
Please tell us ONE of the things of your “way too many expenses that are not needed” statement, that is in the Budget that is not needed, so the rest of us can join you in bashing the Fire Budget.
I would also like a count of the “way too many expenses that are not needed”, this way we can all be educated.
To anonymous at 9:09 am. What expenses are you talking about? You are obviously not very well informed on the budget or the operating expenses of the dept.
To Mr hobday
How come when township gives away property you get upset but now when the township is giving away property to make the seniors happy your encouraging everyone to come in support?? Why the double standard? Will mr hobday and Mr simons everyone else be at the township meeting to stop the township from giving property away just to sit vacant!! Maybe leisure village should pay for the property and include it in their fence? Why should lakewood taxpayers pay for it? Please explain
To #19, that is exactly the point of #13, and I agree, no one is educated on the budget. There are very few if any advertisements about the election and the board of fire comm. do no even have a website where someone could view the budget. Why not ask the township to add a page to their website with all of the fire department’s finances, etc.?
to Quote , I voted against the budget because it has way too many expenses that are not needed.
Pure nonsense , if your going to make statements such as this you need to back them up with facts,otherwise they are without any merit . PLEASE itemize what you consider expenses that are not needed YOU CAN”T !!!!
Hey Yid:
The budget is a public document, all you had to do was go to the Fire Board office and ask for your own copy and you can take it home and read it at your leasure, or is it just easier to come on here and complain.
So next year find out when it is ready for public inspection and pick one up.
How many comments are still awaiting moderation?
I quit……I’m tired of this town and I can no longer in good conscious freely give my time and potentially my life to people who don’t care about us. Enough is enough and I encourage my fellow firefighters to do the same, maybe then these selfish people will care.
well I do believe that everything in the use of tax payer money should be transparent as stated by Yid says:
however to be honest in lakewood very little is done in that manner ,look at the situation with the previous school BOE, now we have the problem with rentals that is being totally ignored by this town .so if we are going to be transparent lets do it where it aplies to everything and not pick and choose to only certain issues
Even if it was in the office, I don’t have time to leave work and go to your office, pay the fee to make copies, and bring it home.
If you really wanted me to vote for the budget, you would have explained to us why we should vote for the budget. It is your job to explain it to us, otherwise we will vote the budget down. Don’t forget, it’s our money we’re voting on.
I wasn’t complaining. I was just explaining why I would have voted against te budget, if I would have known there was an election.
Oh, and before I forget, next year I will vote against the budget unless I understand exactly what will be in the budget, and I agree with the budget.
If you want my vote, earn it.
You are the one complaining, not me. I will continue to vote against all budgets that are not fully explained to the public. Once again: it is OUR money that we are voting to spend. We pay for these budgets with our property taxes, and a full accounting is a very reasonable request.
Hey Yid:
This means that you vote against the BOE and Township budgets every year.
Don’t have time to go to fires
To Everyone– when there is no more money and your complaining about not seeing your firefighters, and there is no more volunteers and you have to get a paid service in place..you would like to think this …Why didnt I help our volunteers..because a career service is 10x more expensive and you will be paying more in fire taxes, prob closer to $30 mil instead of $3mil. Look At Cherry Hill, they are Primary Paid with some volunteer back ups..their budget last year was close to $40 mil dollars..yours is $3 mil..Now tell me what would you rather have? No need to answer, look at the FDNY what do you think that budget is?? Its astronomical. Lakewood is nothing like them. But that is the reality of what is going to happen. So enjoy it while you can because possibly in a few years you wont have anymore volunteers..and that is what you get..Im sorry but that is what its going to come down to.