2 December 1981
letters to the editor
Hill clarifies borough’s stand
To the editor:
With regards to your editorial of Nov. 25 (First Aid Squad funding versus a study of the space needs of the borough’s Police Department), a few facts need to be cleared up:
- — The borough has not “refused to enter into an on-going arrangement with Princeton Township to cover the costs of paid daytime rescue squad members.” The borough and the township are currently holding meetings in order to work out just such an arrangement.
- — The borough did not decline to commit itself to a formula for funding the squad “in the years to come. ” In fact, the borough has gone on record at meetings with the township and with the squad to the effect that it wants to find a long range solution to the funding problem so that the paid squad wouldn’t constantly have to walk the employment tightrope.
- — The poor and elderly would not be penalized under the proposed user fee system for payment for the services of the paid daytime squad crew. Rather, the
onus would be on those who could afford the service. Those who could not afford to pay would have their costs covered by the municipal governments. - — Finally, expenses for the First Aid Squad are required by state law to stay within the municipal budget’s CAPS limitation This means that any addition to the borough’s budget in the form of a contribution to the First Aid Squad must be matched by a corresponding cut somewhere else in the municipal budget. The Police Department space use study, however, may come out of the capital expenditures budget and would not require a cut in the budget in order to meet the state CAPS. This breakdown of expenditures into those which are inside or outside the CAPS explains why some financially based municipal problems are more easily dealt with than others.
Barbara J. Hill
Borough Councilwoman and
Police Commissioner
Princeton