Donnelly Says Borrowing Plan Better Policy Than Attack on Public Safety

More than ever, we need our local elected officials to make smart fiscal decisions, to push forward sensible financial policies that ensure municipal coffers stay solvent, while residents receive the services they need and deserve. That is why the NJFMBA is in full support of the COVID-19 Budget Recovery Act.

This sensible legislation, which would allow the State of New Jersey to borrow dollars to continue the delivery of essential service to residents, will give local governments the opportunity to make sound financial decisions and place the utmost priority on continued, and long term, recovery.

The NJFMBA, on behalf of the more than 5,000 career firefighters, EMTs, and dispatchers we represent across the state has worked tirelessly with these elected officials, including our Congressional delegation, to maximize the amount of federal dollars coming to New Jersey, and our state and local elected officials to make sure those dollars are spent properly.

What we have faced since March, together, has changed everything, including emergency response, the delivery of education, and municipal planning. However, the overwhelming majority of policy makers and elected officials have taken it as an opportunity to solidify relationships with key stakeholders in their towns, including workers. They know that their actions today and tomorrow will have a vast impact on their communities for years to come.

Now is not the time to take a shortsighted approach, settle feuds, drive a wedge between first responders and the residents we protect, or, in short, follow the course of South Orange Village President Sheena Collum.

The added financial flexibility provided by the opportunity to borrow will also stymie the efforts of elected officials like Collum, who, running counter to the virtues of responsibility, has spent the past weeks threatening the jobs of the men and women on the frontline of keeping that community healthy, by giving her one less excuse to continue her long standing anti-public safety worker campaign.

Simply put, the COVID-19 Budget Recovery Act is exactly the sort of fiscal policy we need right now to get New Jersey, and our municipalities, back on track.