Police
The police force consists of one chief of police and one deputy police chief, 103 uniformed officers, and 16 detectives.
Fire
The fire department has 99 full-time, paid-personnel consisting of one fire chief, 5 deputy fire chiefs, and 93 firemen. Apparatus consists of five- (5) pumping engines plus one pumper in reserve, and a 110-foot aerial ladder engine distributed in four (4) fire stations. All firefighters are trained as EMT’s.
Health
Within a very short distance from the Town are 14 hospitals in Jersey City, Newark, and Belleville. The Kearny Emergency Ambulance Squad provides ambulance service with three- (3) ambulances, and every Kearny Fire Department firefighter is a trained EMT.
Utilities
Public Service Electric and Gas Co. provide gas and electricity, and Verizon is the principal provider of local telephone service. Solid waste disposal is collected twice weekly by a private contractor hired by the Town. Sewer and water service is provided through the Town; however, in designated geographical areas, sewer service is managed by the Kearny Municipal Utilities Authority. Comcast is the provider of television and broadband cable service.
Sewer Service
The Town operates a wastewater collection system that provides service to the Town’s residents and businesses. Prior to the date the South Kearny Sewage Treatment Project became operational on November 13, 1990, the wastewater from the entire Town, except the South Kearny area, either flowed or was pumped to the Passaic Valley Sewerage Commissioners’ (PVSC) sewer interceptor lines for conveyance to the PVSC’s sewage treatment plant located in Newark. Since that time, the wastewater from the South Kearny area is also pumped by means of a pipeline to the PVSC sewage treatment plant.
The Town does not impose a separate sewer charge to residential and commercial businesses. Such cost, as billed to the Town by the PVSC, is included in the Town’s tax rate for those properties served. An exception to the above manner of recovering PVSC charges is made if the property or business served uses 25,000 gallons of water per day or if the property or business is within the jurisdiction of the Kearny Municipal Utilities Authority.
During 1988, the Town formed the Kearny Municipal Utilities Authority (KMUA) to serve the South Kearny and lower Meadowlands areas. The Town determined that the most efficient and expeditious method of providing secondary sewage treatment to the South Kearny area was to convert the South Kearny Sewage Treatment Plant to a pump station and build a pipeline across Newark Bay from the location of the plant to the foot of Wilson Avenue in Newark and thereby connect to the sewage treatment plant of the PVSC.
The KMUA imposes user charges and new construction charges to the owners of properties in its jurisdiction and serves as the primary source of payment of its debt service, operating and maintenance expenses, including the charges of PVSC for treatment of sewage from its clients.
Water Service
Water is provided on a metered basis to all of the Town’s residents and businesses. The North Jersey District Water Supply Commission (NJDWSC) supplies water on a wholesale basis to the Town. The Town’s contractual allocation is 12 million gallons per day, of which approximately 6.1 million gallons per day is used. The Town is one of the contracting municipalities with the NJDWSC. On June 24, 1997, the Town Council passed an ordinance that the Town would enter into an interlocal services agreement contracting the water utility to the East Orange Water Commission. In March 2001, this ordinance was revoked and the Governing Body voted to again control its water utility and restore the Kearny Water Department. The Town subsequently contracted water billing and collection services to United Water Services.
