NEWARK — The city is expected to spend approximately 3% more on public safety services this year than it did in 2023, under a budget up for a public hearing on Sept. 5.
The $914.47 million spending plan allocates $257.79 million to police, fire and emergency management services, which are proposed to comprise 28.2% percent of the city’s spending, the budget shows.
Police, fire, and OEM staffing remains flat at 2,299 people, Public Safety Director Fritz Fragé said. The fire division, Fragé said, saw a decrease in salaries because of retirements and their replacements, including 79 new recruits, being paid at lower rates.
“We had an astronomical number of retirements of senior-level personnel,” Fragé told City Council during an Aug. 12 budget meeting during which council members questioned public safety response times, closed firehouses, pay for crossing guards and staffing levels.
The retirements in the fire department follow the deaths of firefighter captains Augusto “Auggie” Acabou and Wayne “Bear” Brooks Jr. while fighting a blaze at Port Newark last year, and questions about staffing and training that followed the fatalities.
Fragé said two firehouses, which are closed for “remediation,” are being worked on. “The remediation process is going smoothly,” he said. “We’re just waiting for the process of getting them opened back up.”
As of the meeting, he said, the public safety department employed 109 crossing guards and had 17 vacancies. Fragé said the city hired 11 new guards this year. On questioning from the council, he said the guards had not received a raise.
North Ward Councilman Anibal Ramos Jr. said the temporary closure of the Engine 28 firehouse on North 6th Street in Upper Roseville has been a concern.
“When do you guys anticipate getting these firehouses reopened?” Ramos said. “That presents a major safety concern on behalf of the community. It seems like it’s taking an awful long time.”
Fragé said that the firehouse is planned to reopen within the next couple of months.
Assistant Public Safety Director Rufus L. Jackson, a previous fire chief, said the fire company is still operating but is doing so out of a firehouse on Mount Prospect Street.
“It poses no real danger, I believe, to the community,” he said, adding that stations are regularly consolidated.
“The company is there,” Jackson said. “We’re within the four-to-five-minute response time required.”
Once the remediation of the fire station is complete, the department plans to locate a Special Operations Command, or SOC, unit at the location that will respond to high-risk incidents.
“They’ll have specialized training in Hazmat, confined space, extrication, high-angle rescues, and et cetera,” he said. That unit will support operations city-wide, Jackson said.
The Engine 5 firehouse on Congress Street was closed due to structural issues, he said.
Ramos also pressed for details on equipment.
“Did we buy defective fire engines?” he asked. “Is there a recall on some of these vehicles? Because my understanding is that on Park Avenue, recently, we did have a few days when we did not have access to fire trucks.”
Jackson said a fire truck at Ladder 7 broke down, and it took a week or so for parts to come in and at the time the department did not have a feasible spare to replace it.
“We’re dealing with stations that are over 100 years old, and these stations are built for horse and buggy and for steamers,” he said. “We can’t just put any size apparatus in these stations.”
South Ward Councilman Patrick Council asked about the need for 230 additional firefighters.
“How do we map that plan out?” Council asked.
Fragé said that in addition to the 79 recently hired fire recruits, the department will have 19 more recruits coming on.
East Ward Councilman Michael Silva said he was disappointed to see only a small percentage of the budget going toward equipment and the number of personnel remaining flat while the city grows.
“There has to be a better way to get more cops on the street to keep our residents safe,” said Silva, a former police officer. “I understand the numbers are what they are, we’re low in homicides, but there are other issues and police response time is one of them that I’m getting feedback on from my residents.”
Fragé said that a proposal for a new firehouse downtown would also serve parts of the East Ward. He also said following the firefighter deaths last year officers are being trained in emergency management and high-risk situations.
Council President LaMonica McIver asked about funds for a First Precinct police station in the Central Ward, where a trailer is serving as a police substation.
“Community members want to know: When will the First Precinct be built again? What are we doing?” McIver said.
Fragé said the city needs to find money and space for it.
McIver, however, said it’s been at least three years since the station closed, and there is no word on when it will reopen.
“The residents of the Central Ward want to know what’s happening with the First Precinct,” she said. “At this point, it’s just straight up honestly disrespectful.”
What’s Next?
A public hearing on the City of Newark's 2024 municipal budget is scheduled for Thursday, Sept. 5, at City Hall, 920 Broad St. The meeting starts at 12:30 p.m.
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