Swampscott passes police station override

SWAMPSCOTT – A year after rejecting a similar proposal, voters approved a $3.35 million debt exclusion to finance a new police station.”That’s a real squeaker!” said Board of Selectmen Chair Jill Sullivan after she tallied the vote counts posted at Town Hall. “When you really believe something is the right thing, it’s such a relief to bring it home.”At last year’s Special Local Election, voters rejected a $6 million debt exclusion to finance the project by 225 votes, according to Town Clerk Sue Duplin. This year, the turnout was also 18 percent, but the votes were 885 to 858 in favor of the proposal, Duplin said.”I’m glad it wasn’t 27 votes in the other direction, because then we’d definitely be doing a recount,” said Duplin, alluding to town officials’ support for the proposal.The proposed station to be built on Humphrey Street totals $6.45 million, of which $450,000 has already been allocated by Town Meeting for design and feasibility studies, according to Town Administrator Andrew Maylor. If Town Meeting approves allocating the $3.35 million (which several town officials Tuesday night were confident would occur) the remaining $600,000 to finance the project will come from reserve funds, according to Maylor.Town Treasurer and Tax Collector Denise Dembkowski estimates that the debt exclusion – which essentially allows a town to temporarily exclude the funding for a specific project from the restrictions of Proposition 21/2 – 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.Bob Baker, chair of the Vote Yes for a New Police Station Committee, said that he “was excited and a little bit relieved” after the vote results. He said that the need for a new station has been discussed since he was Chair of the Finance Committee in the 1980s.Selectman Matt Strauss also said the vote was “a huge relief,” even though he was optimistic after holding a sign in favor of the question’s approval.”This year there were more beeps of the horn and more thumbs up than last year,” Strauss said. “We can finally get this done,” he added, expressing confidence that next Monday’s Town Meeting will vote in favor of allocating the money for the project.”We have to go to Town Meeting obviously, but I’m looking forward to starting the project,” said Chief Ronald Madigan. “Now the work begins.”