By CHRIS LINDAHL
@cmlindahl
Daily Hampshire Gazette
SOUTHAMPTON — After a proposed $10.8 million public safety complex was voted down at Town Meeting in May, officials are asking voters at a special election July 9 to allow an architect to draw up plans for a combined police and fire station at a lower cost.
Voters will also decide whether to give final approval to four overrides of Proposition 2½, including one that is a debt exclusion, that were initially approved at the annual Town Meeting.
The polls will be open from noon to 8 p.m. at Town Hall.
There are two separate questions on the ballot pertaining to the public safety complex.
If approved, the first would allow the town to use a debt exclusion to design, construct and equip a public safety complex. The second would allow the town to use an exclusion to pay only for the design and engineering of the building.
If either question is approved, spending would need to be approved by a two-thirds vote at a special Town Meeting to be held before Sept. 15.
“This is a question to gauge people’s interest,” Town Administrator Heather Budrewicz said. “It is not, by any means, a blank check.”
“We’re trying to emphasize it’s not a money question,” Select Board member John Martin said of the ballot questions. If approved “the voters are not saying it’s OK to spend money with this vote, it’s just OK to pursue getting plans at a lower cost.”
Approval of debt exclusions and Proposition 2½ overrides require a two-step process. Spending is decided at Town Meeting, while the actual property tax increase is determined by a ballot vote. Those steps can be performed in any order.
“At the Town Meeting it was made pretty clear that we need a new fire and police department, but it was also equally clear that the town didn’t want to spend $10.8 million on a public safety complex,” Martin said.
The initial plans drawn up by Caolo & Bieniek Associates Inc. of Chicopee considered the needs expressed by the police and fire departments, amounting to what Martin called “a very nice building.”
Should residents approve either question about the public safety building, “the architect will then design us a complex within a (price) range that we stipulate,” Martin said.
Residents at a special Town Meeting would then vote on a specific figure.
After meeting with the Public Safety Complex Committee, Martin said he is now eying a range of between $7 million and 8 million for a new public safety complex. “That is something that is sustainable on the tax rate for the next 20 or 30 years,” he said. “Our goal, I think, is to keep the tax level as down as possible.”
Budrewicz said if voters like the idea of a less expensive public safety complex, it could be advantageous to approve the debt exclusion that would pay for all stages of design and construction, rather than doing the process piecemeal. That would allow the town to lock in a bond rate for the entire project, she said.
Voters will also be asked to give final approval on measures that were advanced at Town Meeting.
– A $198,875 debt exclusion to pay for a gasoline storage tank and pumps and a generator for the Highway Department. This would increase the property tax rate by about 5 cents per thousand for 10 years, increasing the annual tax bill for a home valued at $260,000 — the town average in 2014, according to state data — by $13 for 10 years.
– A $135,000 override to fund a second shift at the fire station, which fire officials say would improve emergency call coverage and response time. If approved, the tax rate would see a permanent increase of an estimated 21 cents per thousand dollars of assessed property value, about $55 for the average homeowner.
– $68,000 to supplement the William E. Norris School budget, which school officials say will avoid teacher layoffs. The measure would increase the property tax rate by about 11 cents per thousand, or about $29 for the average homeowner.
– $63,000 to restore a police officer’s position. This would lead to a permanent tax rate increase of about 9 cents per thousand, adding about $23 to the annual tax bill for a home valued at $260,000.
– The current tax rate is $15.71 per thousand dollars of property value. If all of the proposed measures are approved, the annual tax bill for a home valued at the town average of $260,000 would increase by about $120 for the next decade.
Residents will also consider whether to change the town treasurer/collector from an elected position to an appointed one. Officials say the change would ensure that the town’s finances are managed by a qualified professional.
Having an appointed treasurer/collector is generally considered a “best practice” by Massachusetts municipalities and the state Department of Revenue, Budrewicz said. The majority of communities in the state with a population of 5,000 or more have an appointed treasurer/collector.
Chris Lindahl can be reached at [email protected].
