State F.M.B.A. News
Purpose and Mission of the FMBA
The purpose for which this Corporation is formed is as follows: To educate residents of the State of New Jersey and of each community therein, through local chapters of this State Association, in the prevention, detection and extinguishment of fires; To enhance the safety of all who reside or pass through this State by continuing the training of firefighters and the public in fire safety and by the training of firefighters in the protection of life and property; To promote and encourage the formation of local branches; To aid and assist by the moral support and influence of this State Association all aforementioned qualified members of this State Association, and their widows/widowers and orphan children who may not otherwise be provided for, and to encourage said Locals to educate and assist the public in any manner possible in connection with the area of emergency services, including but not limited to encouraging greater public understanding of fire safety and fire fighting; To instruct the youth of this State in fire safety and prevention and to encourage Locals to sponsor programs and to encourage youth involvement in fire prevention; To provide for the mutual benefit and advancement of the interests and prosperity of all firefighters in the State who are now or hereafter become members of any Local; To protect and defend, as deemed advisable, the rights, benefits and privileges to which any member now or hereafter may become entitled; To collect and compile from time to time the statistics and other information concerning firefighters to better protect the public welfare.
History
The New Jersey State Firemen's Mutual Benevolent Association was first organized and established on December 11, 1897, at the first F.M.B.A. Annual convention which was held in Jersey City, NJ. At that seemingly uneventful gathering, whereupon only six original member locals - Jersey City, Paterson, Hoboken, Newark, Trenton and Camden, united to incorporate under the banner of the F.M.B.A., birth was given to a new era in the history of the career fire service in New Jersey. In retrospect, it is, at best difficult, to estimate if our founding fathers possessed full awareness of the time enduring significance and the tremendous positive impact this organization was destined to have upon its members, their families and the general public throughout the decades to follow. Given that particularly industrious point of our society's growth and development, the time was perfect to organize such an association. And organize they did. By 1907, less than a decade from its inception, local membership doubled from six to twelve locals, with total membership increasing to 1,157. Today with 106 Fire and EMS locals on its roster, the New Jersey State Firemen's Mutual Benevolent Association proudly maintains an active membership of over 5,000 career personnel.
For New Brunswick 17 & 217
The FMBA "Fire Chef's Cookbook" is now out! Information and purchase forms are here.
NJ FMBA Pension and Benefits Information
Discussed at the March meeting:
PFRS BOARD ELECTION INFORMATION
The Board of Trustee election for the position of PFRS fire representative will commence in April of 2008. The vendor, Global PM Support, will mail election packets to Certifying Officers of employing locations on or about 4/1/08.
Nominating petitions for the election of PFRS retired representative will become available on 4/1/08. Interested candidates (retired police officers or firefighters) should submit a letter of interest to: Division of Pensions and Benefits; PFRS Board Secretary; PO Box 295; Trenton, NJ 08625-0295.
http://www.state.nj.us/treasury/pensions/2008-employer-billing.htm
PROJECTED LOCAL EMPLOYER PENSION CONTRIBUTIONS
for State Fiscal Year Ending 2008The links below will take you to the projected local employer pension billing amounts for fiscal year 2008. Projected amounts are shown per location in alphabetical order. For towns having the same name, a county reference has been indicated.
Please note that the amounts provided are estimates for budget purposes and are not the final actual amounts. The actual bills will be sent later this year and those amounts could be slightly different. PROJECTED LOCAL EMPLOYER BILLING
Billing information is provided in Adobe PDF format.
To view the files you must have Acrobat Reader which is available free from Adobe.Public Employees' Retirement System (PERS) PDF size 76K
Police and Firemen's Retirement System (PFRS) PDF size 36K
___________________________________________________________Click here to view PERS Employer Rates and PFRS Employer Rates.
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Valor Awards Dinner
Saturday April 26, 2008
6:00 PM to Midnight
"Honoring the Bravest of the Brave"
2008 Valor RecipientsLocal of the Year
Paterson Local 2
George Steele Award for Media
Ms. Ann Richardson, Ocean City Gazette
Submitted by Ocean City Local 27
Scott Garber Service Award
B/C Carl Paczkowski (Ret. Bayonne FD)
Submitted by Local 500
Civilian Award
Mr. Jason Conti
Mr. Chris Schreiber
Mr. Sean Schreiber
Submitted by Hamilton Local 284
Mr. Michael McDonald
Submitted by Jersey City Local 1
Humanitarian Award
Captain Rich Bonner
FF Dan Biel
Carteret Local 67 / Submitted by Carteret Local 67
Brotherhood Award
Captain Greg Amerman
FF Carlos Lopez
FF Kenneth Mullarney
FF Ali Overby
FF Michael Mandriotta
FF Osmell Estrada
Jersey City Local 1
Group Effort Award (Medical)
D/C Thomas Corso
Captain James Brindle
Captain Thomas Mateer
FF Michael Gwizdz
FF Vincent McClave
FF Kenneth Orenge
FF Joseph Zlotek
FF Michael Handlein
FF Gregory Donofrio
Hillside Local 35
Group Effort Award (Non-Fire)
FF Christopher Divver
FF Steven Bruzzichesi
FF Michael Turi
FF Sean St. Laurent
FF Javier Diaz
FF David Galloway
FF William McMahon
FF Malick Kelly
FF John Warchola
Clifton Local 21
Group Effort Award (Fire)
FF Peter Landis
FF Hilton Whitaker
A/Lt. Edwin Arriaga
Captain Broderick J. Fleming
FF Gregory Fleming
Lieutenant Ronnie Belin
FF Rodney Williams
FF Douglas Germinder
FF Craig Johnson
FF John Pellegrino
Lieutenant David W. Jackson
FF Michael Gillette
FF Herbert Green
FF Eddie Currie
B/C Henry V. Robinson III
Plainfield Local 7 and 207
Lifesaving Award
FF Joseph Monsorno
Linden Local 34
Bronze Medal of Valor
FF Walter Heckel
Springfield Local 57
Silver Medal of Valor
FF Pietro Martino
FF Glenn Robinson
FF Richard Campanelli
Plainfield Local 7
Gold Medal of Valor
Captain Jack Dunne
FF Michael Daly
Bayonne Local 11 and 211
2008 Special Recognition Award Recipients, click here
Please direct all questions regarding valor to Chairman Christopher Lukenda
Sponsors
NEWS...
MASTER'S DEGREE IN HOMELAND SECURITY OFFERED IN NJ
FDU program is the first of its kind in New Jersey
EMSRESPONDER.COM - February 25, 2008 - Kathe Conlon, a nurse at the Burn Center at Saint Barnabas Medical Center, planned to get her master's degree in administrative science at Fairleigh Dickinson University.
Then she saw the courses being offered by the school's newest degree program.
Weapons of mass destruction. The face of terror. Cyber-forensics. Disaster management. Preparing for catastrophic emergencies.
Now Conlon is one of a dozen students enrolled in the Madison University's master's degree program in homeland security. The master's program is the first of its kind in New Jersey, according to FDU and state education officials.
A police chief, several emergency managers, health officers and members of the National Guard have joined Conlon in the two-year program that was launched last month. The program, they hope, will improve their careers, but also make them better members of the community.
"I think one of the biggest lessons we learned post 9/11 is that we're all in this together," said Conlon, who also serves as the emergency management coordinator for Saint Barnabas' burn unit.
FDU's 36-credit program has eight instructors, most of them professionals or experts from the military, state departments, health organizations and law enforcement. The program builds on certificate programs in terrorism, emergency management and computer security that began in 2004.
Students in the degree program take four mandatory courses offering a broad overview of homeland security, constitutional issues, weapons of mass destruction and terrorism awareness. They then choose from a list of about 25 courses to specialize in one of three areas: terrorism and security studies; emergency management, and homeland security leadership.
"Years ago, homeland security was just handled by the military, but now it's much broader than that," said Paulette Laubsch, program director. "Medical, law enforcement, firefighters, emergency responders - they want a piece of paper that says they know what they're doing."
Former Bergen County executive William Pat Schuber, who is teaching a class called Homeland Security and the Constitution, said the field is so new that he had to go to a publisher to get a textbook made for his course, which traces the history of homeland security issues.
"This is extremely timely," said Schuber, a former FDU politics professor. "The very issues we're debating in our classroom with students . . . the nation is debating in presidential elections, in Congress, in the Supreme Court."
In his two lectures so far, Schuber talked about how the United States has dealt with national security threats. The motives behind the Patriot Act and the detainment of people at Guant namo Bay are in many ways similar to the ones that fueled Japanese-American internment during World War II and the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798, he tells students.
"What is happening today isn't necessarily new to the nation," Schuber said. "To what extent can our liberties be curtailed to protect us, and can the government truly balance the two?"
Already, some homeland security employers are recognizing the master's degree as a sign of expertise. At the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, officials said those who have a degree have a competitive edge over those who do not.
Creating a degree program from current circumstances isn't unique, experts said. Environmental calamities - including oil spills and a river catching on fire - spurred environmental studies courses in the 1970s, and the black power and women's rights movements of the 1960s generated black studies and women's studies. The events lend the programs credibility.
STOCK LOSSES HURT N.J. PENSION FUNDS
NJ.COM - February 21, 2008 - Stock market turmoil on Wall Street and abroad have battered New Jersey's underfunded pension accounts, contributing to a $4 billion decline in the funds dedicated to paying retirement benefits for 700,000 government workers and teachers.
As of Jan. 31, seven months through the state fiscal year, the pension funds held $78.1 billion - $4 billion less than they contained when the budget year opened July 1.
Driving the losses were declines of 6.45 percent in the fund's domestic stock holdings and 9.02 percent in international stocks, William Clark, Director of the state's Division of Inveastment told members of the State Investment Council at their regular meeting today.
Overall, the funds' investment return for the fiscal year is -1.26 percent, which is far below the 8.25 percent accountants assume the money will earn every year when they calculate what taxpayers should contribute to the retirement plan, Clark said.
The market setbacks put a new strain on the pension system, which already contains at least $24.8 billion less than accountants say retirement benefits will ultimately cost. Over the past decade the funds have been decimated by rising benefit costs and years of chronic underfunding by the state.
The investment losses eventually translate into higher costs for taxpayers, who already are on the hook for annual payments into the funds of about $2.2 billion.
Gov. Jon Corzine has presented a budget that proposes, for the third year in a row, contributing only half the amount actuaries say the state should put into the fund, officials familiar with the budget plan said today.
Orin Kramer, chairman of the Investment Council, said the current setbacks should not be viewed in isolation from prior years' investment gains.
"For the last several years you've had extremely attractive returns that were above target rates," he said. "You always have to look at this in a longterm perspective."
MORE BAD NEWS FOR PUBLIC PENSIONS
HOME NEWS TRIBUNE - December 23, 2007 - It hardly came as a surprise this week to find that when the Pew Center on the States released its findings of a year-long study on state pension funds, New Jersey was among the most troubled. In fact, since misery likes company, there may even have been some comfort in knowing that other states also have failed to adequately save for future pension and health insurance premium pay-outs. According to the Pew study, the nation as a whole is on the hook for $2.7 trillion worth of pensions and health benefits for state employees. And it is at least 25 percent short.
Still, even among all that bad news, New Jersey stood out. The state has made the smallest pension fund payments of any state every year since 2002, when it paid only 3 percent of what it owed. In 2006, it paid just 27 percent of what was due. Even next year, under a governor who claims to be fixing these problems, the state will contribute a measly 60 percent of what is due. The state simply can't afford to do more. Even the 60 percent figure represents an increase of $340 million, revenue that must be acquired from somewhere.
Pew says to be healthy, funds should carry at least 80 percent of their future pay-outs.
The good news is that, despite all this negligence, New Jersey's pension has 79 percent of what analysts say it owes its vested employees. The bad news is that that number does not include the state's unfunded health insurance liabilities. Pew said the state had $23.1 billion in unfunded pension liabilities. The state says its unfunded retiree benefits are more than double that: $58 billion.
The numbers are so big, it's almost impossible to grasp. The consequences, alas, are more immediately felt. The headline on a New York Times story on the report was "Pension Fund Shortages Create Hard Choices," and went on to say, "While some states are managing their costs reasonably well, the center found that others, like New Jersey and West Virginia, have made serious mistakes and are now cutting education and health
To learn about the Committees of the FMBA, click on the links below. To join a committee, please contact the Chairperson listed next to each category for more information.
ALUMINUM CANS FOR BURNED CHILDREN
J. Michael Roberts, Millburn Local 32LOCAL 500 STEERING
Thomas Tevlin, Local 500ADDRESSING
Bob Hill, Local 500MEMORIAL
Michael Jackson, Linden Local 34ASSISTANCE
James Bauer, Elizabeth Local 9ORGANIZATION
Michael Infante, Bloomfield Local 19APPEALS AND GRIEVANCES
Robert Brower, Union Local 46PICNIC
Anthony J. Galioto, Local 219BULLETIN
John Hund, Nutley Local 44RESOLUTIONS
Charles Salley, East Orange Officers Local 223CRITICAL INCIDENT STRESS
Brian McGorty, North Hudson F.O. Local 26SCHOLARSHIPS
Larry Lukenda, Linden Local 234CONVENTION
Bruce Pollock, Millburn Local 32TECHNICAL SUPPORT
Scott Wentworth, Belleville Local 29CREDENTIALS
Scott Wentworth, Belleville Local 29VALOR AWARDS
Christopher Lukenda, Linden Local 34DEPARTMENT OF PERSONNEL
Brian McGorty, North Hudson F.O. Local 26VETERANS ASSISTANCE
James Bauer, Elizabeth Local 9EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES
Thomas Lyons, Clifton Local 21WAYS AND MEANS
Michael Infante, Bloomfield Local 19HEALTH AND SAFETY
Paul C. Kearns Jr, Teaneck Local 242WEBSITE
Thomas J. Holder, Union Local 246LEGISLATIVE
Robert Allen, Paterson local 2
