RELEASE: Gottheimer Announces $1 Million Federal Investment to Upgrade Local 911 Response System

Above: Gottheimer joins local leaders and first responders to announce $1 million in federal investment clawed back for Bergenfield.

BERGENFIELD, NJ — Today, February 2, 2026, U.S. Congressman Josh Gottheimer (NJ-5) announced that he successfully clawed back $1,031,000 in new federal funding to upgrade and modernize Bergenfield’s 911 emergency communications systems, strengthening public safety while delivering real tax relief for local families.

The federal investment Gottheimer secured will complete critical upgrades to Bergenfield’s emergency communications infrastructure, including new, state-of-the-art portable radios and a modern “simulcast” system that allows police officers, firefighters, EMTs, and emergency management personnel to communicate clearly and seamlessly across coverage areas when seconds matter most. The upgraded system will improve coordination during emergencies and major incidents, helping reduce outages, eliminate delays, and ensure faster, more effective responses across Bergenfield.

By clawing back federal dollars to North Jersey communities and first responders, Gottheimer is helping lift significant costs off local town budgets — reducing the burden on Bergenfield taxpayers to pay for essential public safety equipment and helping lower property taxes for local families.

Video of Gottheimer’s announcement can be found here.

“When seconds count, communication saves lives,” said Congressman Josh Gottheimer (NJ-5), the Co-Chair for the Law Enforcement Caucus and member of the Congressional Fire Services Caucus. “By clawing back more than $1 million of Bergenfield families’ own federal tax dollars, we’re making sure our first responders have reliable, modern communications equipment to protect our community — while also delivering real tax relief for our community.”

This investment builds on Gottheimer’s years-long work to claw more federal dollars back to North Jersey from Washington. Since coming to Congress, Gottheimer has helped increase the return of federal funds to the Fifth District by more than 357%, delivering an average savings of more than $750 for each household in the Fifth District.

Gottheimer was joined by Bergen County Executive Jim Tedesco, Bergenfield Mayor Arvin Amatorio, Bergenfield Council President Domingo Almonte, Councilman Thomas Lodato, Councilwoman Ora Kornbluth, Councilman Buddy Deauna, Councilman Marc Pascual, Councilman Hernado Rivera, Bergenfield Police Chief Mustafa Rabboh, Bergenfield Chief of Fire Department Ryan Zadrozna, Chairman of the Bergen County PBA Conference Mike Podeia, Bergen County PBA Executive Board Member Anthony Mazzo, PBA Local 309 President Joe Arrigo, local first responders, and community leaders.

Below: Gottheimer joins local leaders and first responders to announce a $1 million federal investment clawed back for Bergenfield.

Gottheimer’s full remarks as prepared for delivery are below: 

Good morning, everyone. It’s great to be here in Bergenfield — and I want to thank Mayor Arvin Amatorio, the members of the Borough Council, and all of our local leaders for having me here today.

Most importantly, I want to thank the men and women of the Bergenfield Police Department, our firefighters, EMTs, and Office of Emergency Management staff — the people who put on the uniform every day to keep our families safe. We are deeply grateful for your service and sacrifice. Every day, these heroes answer the siren at a moment’s notice to protect innocent lives. You never even hesitate to answer the call, putting yourself in harm’s way to protect our families and communities.

Today is about results — real results for our community. Results that will save lives – and lower taxes for our families. 

I’m proud to announce that we’ve successfully clawed back from Washington more than $1 million — $1,031,000 in new federal funding — and brought it home here to Bergenfield. These are your federal tax dollars coming back to where they belong – back here in Jersey.

This funding is the second block of federal dollars I have clawed back to upgrade and modernize Bergenfield’s 9-1-1 emergency communications systems, ensuring that our police, fire, EMS, and emergency management teams can communicate clearly, quickly, and reliably when it matters most. 

This means providing our first responders with the best equipment available to ensure that they can respond as quickly as possible to emergencies in our community, so that when you pick up the phone and dial for help, they’re there for you. 

That includes new, state-of-the-art portable radios and a “simulcast” system that eliminates the need for our first responders to switch channels as they move between different coverage areas.

I am proud that, with this new federal investment, we are now taking this project across the finish line. 

In a community like Bergenfield — one of the most populated towns in Bergen County — the first responders here handle a very high volume of emergency calls – in the neighborhood of 40,000 a year. And when emergency calls are coming in, back-to-back, and multiple agencies need to respond at once, everyone has to be on the same page, instantly. There can’t be any delays in communicating with each other. And when there are, lives and public safety are on the line. 

When seconds count, communication saves lives. Think about a fire that needs firefighters and an ambulance, or an accident that needs EMTs and law enforcement. Or, most extreme, in a major disaster, flood, hurricane, or terrorist attack. Multiple agencies, all needing to communicate with each other.

This investment means faster coordination between police, fire, EMS, and emergency management, so information is shared quickly and accurately in real time. That kind of interoperability and state-of-the-art capabilities can be the difference between a good outcome and a tragic one.

We know, for example, that about 39,900 potentially lifesaving 9-1-1 calls are dropped a year because of older, legacy system outages and failures. And, 90 percent of U.S. emergency communications centers reported at least one outage last year because of aging equipment. Young children, some only a few months old, have died because of 9-1-1 software outages. So, this new federally-funded 9-1-1 system means fewer delays, fewer breakdowns, and better decision-making when the pressure is on — more reliable technology during emergencies and major incidents, and better protection for Bergenfield families.

As I mentioned, the federal dollars we’ve clawed back will not only save lives, but they’ll also lower your taxes. Why? Because you pay your federal taxes every year. The question is how much of those dollars come back to Bergenfield, New Jersey, instead of Biloxi, Mississippi. The more we claw back here for projects like this one, the less your property taxes have to pay for this essential 9-1-1 emergency response equipment. That means lower property taxes for you. Why should the Moochers in Mississippi get our dollars instead of them coming back home to where they belong – in your wallets. 

For too long, Washington took our tax dollars and sends them somewhere else — and communities like Bergenfield, here in Bergen County, were left fighting for scraps. Working with your first responders, mayor, and council, over the years, since I’m in Congress, we’ve helped change that. In fact, historically, for every dollar Mississippi and West Virginia sent to Washington, they have historically gotten $4.38 and $4.23 back. While Jersey historically has received only about 67 cents for every dollar. The good news: since I was elected, we are up more than 357 percent here in northern New Jersey. That’s an average of $750 dollars per family.

I’ll give you a few examples, beyond what we did today. Since I came to Congress, we’ve brought back more than $17 million in Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) funding alone to support law enforcement and community safety across our district. We’ve gotten fire trucks for Ho-Ho-Kus and ambulances for Teaneck. From sewer issues in Dumont, Palisades Park, and Fair Lawn, and resources to help deal with flooding in Cresskill and bring clean water to Ridgewood and Midland Park. Faster broadband across Northern New Jersey and new investment for Wyckoff’s police department. 

In my work on the Congressional Fire Services Caucus and the Law Enforcement Caucus, I’ve led bipartisan efforts to increase funding for community policing and officer safety, including securing in the federal budget more than $1 billion for Byrne/JAG & COPS grants, bulletproof vests for law enforcement officers, hate crime prevention programs, active shooter training, training and hiring firefighters, and funding for local law enforcement to combat violent crime and disrupt fentanyl trafficking. 

I also helped secure full funding for the World Trade Center Health Program through the program’s lifetime, ensuring care for 9/11 responders, survivors, and their families. And we’re not stopping there.

Together, these investments make our towns and families safer and protect local taxpayers’ wallets. I’m all about lowering taxes and doing everything we can to make life more affordable. To me, it’s all about making sure you can afford to work, live, and stay in Jersey with your families.

Because supporting law enforcement and first responders should never be partisan — it’s about keeping our communities safe. 

Hopefully, we can pass the budget this week, get the government funded, and claw even more dollars back to help our first responders, our families, and even more communities. 

So today, we’re celebrating a big win — for Bergenfield, for public safety, and for taxpayers.

I want to thank everyone who helped make this happen — from local officials to department leadership to the folks who worked through the federal process to get this done. This is what happens when we work together and stay focused on delivering results. It’s about working together, across the aisle, to solve problems. 

And you have my word: I’ll keep fighting every day to bring our tax dollars back home, support our first responders, and make our communities safer and more affordable places to live. If we do that, here in the greatest country in the world, I know our best days will always be ahead of us. 

Thank you all — God bless our first responders, God bless Bergenfield, and God bless the United States of America.

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