Unopposed but still fighting for Elmont F.D.

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Elmont fire commissioner Joseph Balletta has been a resident of Elmont for nearly 40 years and a member of the Elmont Fire Department for 28 years. Those deep ties to the community are one of the reasons why Balletta, is running for reelection on December 8.

Balletta was first elected to the job in 2005. After rising through the ranks of the department, from officer to chief, then head chief, he felt that it was his time to make the jump to commissioner.

“I’m not putting down the guy I ran against but he wasn’t doing the job for the guys,” Balletta said. “That was my opinion and obviously it was the opinion of others too because I won.”

This year Balletta is running unopposed but still has goals that he wants to see the fire department meet. One of those is increasing personnel yet he realizes that with each new member comes another cost that he and the other four commissioners must account for.

“When I sit there and I battle the budget every year and I see what a ridiculous amount of money we pay for certain things and you try to negotiate and get things cheaper,” he said.

Balletta cited the prices they pay for water from the Western Nassau Water District as being something that affects the yearly budget

“It’s a killer,” he said. “We pay close to a million dollars just for that.”

There is some relief for taxpayers, Balletta said. The Elmont fire district has continuously received an Insurance Service Office (ISO) rating, the lowest that a volunteer fire district can obtain. That low rating keeps insurance premiums at a minimum for the residents of Elmont.

“Everybody in Elmont, their rates drop because of our fire department,” said Balletta. “Because of the things I’m buying for the members, the training that they’re doing because of the talent we keep adding, it’s what’s keeping us going.”

Stability and consistency is the platform that Balletta is running on.

“Continue what I’ve been doing for the past ten years,” he said. “Just try to make everybody happy, try to do right by the firemen, the chiefs, and the residents.”