A budget shortfall and lease negotiations may push the squad toward eviction.
View full sizeThe Bloomsbury Rescue Squad building is located at 88 Main St. in the borough. The Bloomsbury Rescue Squad is facing dire financial straits along with a possible eviction from its building, and officials say there is no immediate solution.
“We’re able to handle the volume of calls, we go where we’re called,” Chief Jim Anderson said. “But financing is becoming a problem, and I don’t have a way out of it.”
The squad, which serves Pohatcong Township and a handful of Hunterdon County municipalities, projects a $15,049 shortfall in its $74,872 budget this year, Anderson said.
But on top of that, the squad learned last month it may have to start paying $1,200 a month in rent for its Bloomsbury building, which would add another $14,400 to the deficit.
Anderson said the squad’s volunteers have already had to pay for their own uniforms and training due to the squad's money woes, and they cannot handle such a large increase.
The squad has been based out of 88 Main St. since 1979, when the original owner gave them a 99-year lease at $1 a year. The building has changed ownership twice since then.
New owner, John Havay, has owned the building since 1999 and initially continued the arrangement, but told the squad last summer that personal financial hardship has forced him to start collecting rent.
Havay, who also operates his electrical business out of the building, did not respond to messages for comment.
But he previously told The Express-Times he needs the rent to pay for the building’s annual maintenance costs, and that he will not make a profit by collecting rent.
“I’ve tried my best to be a good community citizen,” Havay said in June. “It’s just sad. They’re having hard times and I’m having hard times.”
Anderson stressed that despite the problems, the squad has no plans to disband.
“I don’t want anybody to worry that the ambulance isn’t going to come if they make a 911 call,” he said. “One way or the other, even if we’re parking an ambulance in somebody’s driveway, we plan on staying operational.”
The Bloomsbury Rescue Squad serves Bloomsbury and the townships of Pohatcong, Bethlehem and Alexandria. They have 18 volunteer members and responded to 361 calls last year.
Anderson said the squad was told in March that it had to start paying $1,200 per month effective April 1, or Havay would begin eviction proceedings.
The squad has not paid this month, and instead has hired an attorney to review the lease and negotiate with Havay.
A $700-per-month lease had been discussed last year, and Anderson said the squad made a few payments “in good faith” before anything was put to paper.
But Anderson said those payments were stopped when the actual lease was drafted and the squad found the terms unacceptable. He did not elaborate on those terms.
The squad placed several major purchases on hold due to its financial problems, including a $145,000 ambulance replacement and $65,000 to replace a first response vehicle.
If the department were to construct its own building, Anderson estimates it would cost about $275,000.
The squad receives about $30,000 from the municipalities it serves and gets about $13,000 from fundraisers. The rest of the squad’s money comes from donations.
Pohatcong Township Mayor James Kern III said the township has had some discussions about getting the squad more money, and hopes more people donate upon learning of their woes.
“We feel for them because they’re a volunteer organization and it seems the terms of their building have been changed, which is very unfair,” Kern said.
Contact reporter Colin McEvoy at 610-258-7171 ex. 3631 or cmcevoy@express-times.com.
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