UPDATE: Murphy backs off his plan to take $33M from needy firefighter relief fund

New Jersey’s highest-ranking state lawmaker on Tuesday pledged to block Gov. Phil Murphy from taking $33 million from a hardship fund for firefighters in the state, a proposal that sparked outrage among first responders.

State Senate President Stephen Sweeney, D-Gloucester, said in a statement that he is forcefully rejects Murphy’s proposed fund diversion and “guaranteed" it won’t be part of the state budget that is approved by the Senate.

“There is no reason and excuse for denying firefighters support and assistance in their time of need,” said Sweeney, who is often at odds with Murphy, a fellow Democrat. “Refusing or reducing emergency responders and their families the care they deserve in order to prop up the budget is unacceptable."

NJ Advance Media reported Sunday that Murphy’s administration wants to shift $33 million from the New Jersey State Firefighters Association, which, along with 538 local relief groups, provides burial benefits, financial assistance, a retirement home and in-home medical care for New Jersey’s firefighters.

The New Jersey State Firemen’s Association was created 134 years ago to assist firefighters and their families in times of need. The vast majority of New Jersey firefighters are volunteers; fewer than 20 percent are career firefighters.

The organizations receive the proceeds of a 2 percent tax on insurance premiums written by out-of-state insurers for New Jersey properties. The state association took in about $33 million last year, and half went out the door to the Local Relief Associations.

But a December state comptroller report found the associations were sitting on $245 million in unspent funds because of overly strict rules on allowable expenses and that inadequate oversight left the money vulnerable to waste and abuse. About $180 million of that belonged to the 538 local relief groups.

It also found that collectively, the hundreds of Local Relief Associations spent more on administrative costs and conventions than on financial assistance for their members and that the interpretation of need and hardship varied from one association to another.

The head of the statewide association, Robert Ordway, said he believed that investigation put a target on the association’s back. But the state organization’s annual income is not even enough to cover the $10 million in burial benefits it distributed last year, the more than $10 million sent to the Firemen’s Home, a Boonton retirement home for retired firefighters, more than $3 million on administrative expenses, $360,000 in direct financial relief to members and $142,000 on in-home medical care, he said.

The potential change is a one-sentence proposal in Murphy’s fiscal year 2020 state budget plan, where his administration recommends taking the money currently dedicated to the New Jersey State Firemen’s Association and transferring it into the state’s general fund, where it can be used to pay for anything the state sees fit.

Murphy on Monday didn’t back down from his proposal, but offered to sit with firefighters and “figure this out.”

“I hold them, along with our educators and other public servants, up on a pedestal. Period. And they deserve that," the governor said. “We’re very much open-minded to sitting with them on this."

“But folks need to understand, this fund has a fund balance six times the amount it needs," he said. "Six times.”

State Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin, D-Middlesex, declined to comment on the fund raid.

NJ Advance Media staff writer Brent Johnson contributed to this report.

Samantha Marcus may be reached at smarcus@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter@samanthamarcus. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.

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