Princeton Packet
31 January, 1984
Budget to fund planner, add library hours
by Martha T. Moore
Staff Writer
Princeton will have a full-time planner, the fire department will receive an extra $10,000 for equipment maintenance, and the library will be open on Sundays, ruled Princeton’s governing bodies as they allocated funds for joint agencies Saturday in a four-hour budget session at Borough Hall.
A decision to eliminate nearly all of the borough’s 30-odd fire alarm call boxes saved the Princetons $10,750 in the $81,453 budget for the towns’ three volunteer fire companies. But the money — $8,000-$10,000 after the expense of removing the boxes — was reallocated to maintenance of fire equipment at the urging of department representative Mari Freda.
“There’s so much economy in (the budget) now, we can hardly do our job.” he said. “When .you have $800,000 worth of fire equipment, it doesn’t make sense not to maintain it.”
An aerialscope damaged in a fire Jan. 20 must also be repaired, he said.
THE CALL BOXES are not used, said borough Administrator Mark Gordon. But boxes in the central business district, where a phone is harder to find, will be kept in place, be said.
In addition, the governing bodies approved a $15,000 fire study in the joint capital budget to examine the location of fire houses and the availability of volunteers, for fire companies.
Money to repair the driveway at Princeton Hook and Ladder will also be included in the capital budget, according to Mayors Winthrop S. Pike and Barbara B. Sigmund.
While the Township Committee voted to include $3,000 for fire inspection services, which will be used when inspection regulations are written by the state Department of Community Affairs, the Borough Council deferred action until its budget session tonight, Tuesday.
After arguments for increased spending for the Princeton Public Library from Borough Councilman John Huntoon and Township Committee member Barbara Cantrill, the governing bodies added $5,000 for Sunday hours to the library’s $639,490 budget.