Swampscott residents to vote on debt exclusion

SWAMPSCOTT – Selectmen split up an article on the town warrant that calls for building a new police station, which will give residents the option to either pay for the work through a debt exclusion or by using existing town money and future appropriations.But only one will be addressed by Town Meeting on May 2, depending on whether the town passes a $3.35 million debt exclusion at the town election on April 26. Residents could reject either option.”We support either way,” said Board of Selectmen Chair Jill Sullivan Wednesday. “But we think (the debt exclusion) is the most financially prudent way to do it and still supply the services that the town expects.”The proposed station is expected to cost $6.45 million, of which $450,000 has already been allocated by Town Meeting for design and feasibility studies, said Town Administrator Andrew Maylor.This is the second year that the town has proposed a debt exclusion – which essentially allows a town to temporarily hike taxes to pay for one specific project.Last year’s proposed debt exclusion failed.As a result, Maylor, said he analyzed numbers with the Finance Committee and Capital Improvements Committee and decided to request a $3.35 million debt exclusion to be combined with reserves to pay for the project.The Finance Committee, Board of Selectmen and Capital Improvement Committee all have voted to move ahead on the police station at the new site, Maylor added.Town Treasurer and Tax Collector Denise Dembkowski estimates that the debt exclusion would add 11 cents to the tax rate.Based on the $474,810 average value of a single family home, this would add about $52.69 to a resident’s tax bill.Dembkowski added, however, that the office is hoping to coordinate the borrowing with the 2014 expiration of debt owed for the Lynn Sewer and Water Project. This will reduce the tax rate by 31 cents, Dembkowski said. The net effect will be to reduce the tax rate by 22 cents, which would save the average taxpayer $104.”We’re trying to do whatever we can to make this as feasible as possible,” Dembkowski said.If the debt exclusion fails, Maylor said the second article calls for paying for the new police station by spending $600,000 in existing reserve funds, using $185,000 from the sale of the Phillips Beach Fire Station, and dedicating 70-80 percent of the money normally budgeted for capital improvement projects – which this year is approximately $800,000, for three years.