The Voorhees Fire District has been consolidated.
VOORHEES TWP. -- After years of mounting financial troubles, township officials voted this week to dissolve the local fire district and have it fall under the oversight of the Voorhees Township.
The move -- which isn't unprecedented, according to special dissolution counsel Stuart Platt -- is rooted in improving public safety for the residents of Voorhees. However, fire district leaders contend that they've taken their books from red to black and those responsible for monetary issues in the first place are no longer employed.
"This is nothing about the great services of the fine men and women who make up the full-time [firefighters], volunteers and EMTs," Platt said of the move to bring the service under the control of local government following a petition drive among residents. "It's about pubic safety."
The fire district, which operates annually under a voter-approved budget of about $7.5 million, consists of about 40 paid and volunteer staffers and five commissioners. According to Platt, "fiscal mismanagement" was brought to the attention of town council by firefighters in February 2016.
The supposed shortcomings included a drain on the district's surplus from about $2 million down to $100,000, a downgraded bond rating and overtime pay exceeding "hundreds of times" over what was allotted, Platt said. He noted that one professional review of the district deemed it "one of the most poorly-run" fire departments the author had ever encountered.
Platt said the fire department will become a line item in Voorhees' municipal budget, much like a police department is, once the measure approved by the state local finance board under the Department of Community Affairs. Spending and local taxation will be determined during the budgeting process, he added.
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"In the past, the department's administrator wasn't the best," Fire District Chairman Thomas Hanney said of the official who departed in June 2016. "The reasons come from the past," he emphasized.
Asked about the fire district's financial concerns, Hanney said they were "real."
"We've got a new deputy chief. He and the board worked like crazy to get this corrected," he said, adding that Voorhees residents should not expect any change in services offered by the fire department.
"It's political power," he offered. "They wanted to take it over."
Platt vehemently disagreed.
"How could it be a political move if everyone voted for it? We offered our CFO [chief financial officer] to them for years," he said. "Our chief of police has a plan that will provide for a seamless transition."
Police Chief Louis Bordi, who did not return a request for comment, has prepared a plan to oversee the district that will address financial and logistical issues first. Platt said the chief's long and short-term plan has been reviewed by fire experts.
Greg Adomaitis may be reached at gadomaitis@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @GregAdomaitis. Find NJ.com on Facebook.