For 365 days a year, 7 days a week and 24 hours a day, New Jersey Firefighters are on call and ready to risk their lives for complete strangers. These men and women make up the New Jersey State Firefighters Mutual Benevolent Association (NJFMBA), dedicated to serving the needs of the public through the highest level of professional service, integrity, and public awareness.
Located in Rahway, the NJFMBA is comprised of over 5,000 active and retired career firefighters, EMS and dispatchers throughout the State of New Jersey and is headed by President Eddie Donnelly and its executive board. With over 15 committees, the NJFMBA is focused on educating New Jersey residents on all aspects of the fire service; including suppression, prevention, and education.
Recently, their primary focus has been responding to pension and benefit reform, which has greatly impacted firefighters and public safety personnel. Their goal is to inform people about the true cost of their services. While career fire and EMS departments are available to the public everyday, with no ability to strike or shutdown, these departments provide the MOST service for the LEAST amount of tax dollar.
“The public has been misinformed that firefighters are the core of high property taxes, but in reality we are such a minimal portion of the tax bill. Our new campaign provides the eye-opening facts,” said Ed Donnelly, President of the NJFMBA.
As you may already know, the NJFMBA recently launched their ‘Know Your Taxes’ campaign to the public at the 117th Annual NJFMBA Convention, held at the Golden Nugget in Atlantic City, NJ, where over 300 of our bravest gathered together to launch the new educational campaign.
“We understand property taxes are a concern to all residents,” said NJFMBA Vice President, Rich Mikutski, “That’s why we created this website to educate the public on the costs associated with career firefighters.”
We need to educate the community in every way that we can and you can help. Please continue to drive each of your communities to like our Facebook page (NJ Property Tax) and follow our Twitter page (@NJPropertyTaxes) for regularly updated information. Town-specific information and charts have been created for each of the 565 municipalities in New Jersey in order to inform the public how their tax dollars are being spent. These are readily available on the new, user friendly website, http://www.njpropertytax.org. The marketing team is working to establish marketing tools, such as town tax data sheets, signage templates, and customized local press releases to help make educating those around you easier. Be sure to check http://www.njfmba.org regularly to download these new materials.
