Council Shifts New Fire Station Location to Old Middle School, Schedules April Debt Exclusion Vote

By Adam Swift

A debt exclusion vote for a new fire station will be on a special town election ballot on Saturday, April 5.

At last week’s town council meeting, the council voted to move forward with selecting the old middle school on Pauline Street as the site of a new fire station. Earlier this year, the council had unanimously selected the town basketball courts on Walden Street as the fire station site.

But after a roundtable discussion on the future of the old middle school earlier this month, Town Council President Jim Letterie asked the council to reconsider the site of the fire station.

Both the Walden Street and old middle school sites were considered as a possible site after a debt exclusion to build at the site of the Wadsworth Building failed in 2023.

Last week, the council voted 8-1 to move forward with the old middle school site, with Councilor Pat Costigan casting the lone no vote. Councilor John Munson asked for an amendment asking that voters be given the choice of the two sites on the ballot, but that vote failed 7-2 with Costigan joining Munson.

The fire station debt exclusion will join two school override questions on the Saturday, April 5 special election ballot. Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., and there will be regular polling locations, with Precinct 4 voting on Golden Drive and all other precincts voting at the old middle school on Pauline Street. On Monday, Letterie said he estimated the debt exclusion amount for the new fire station will come in around $38 million.

The plan calls for the demolition of the middle school building and auditorium, but the gymnasium and ice rink would remain in place for use by the town.

“I always look at the numbers when I look at any potential project, and we all know that the need for the firehouse is something that 85 to 90 percent of the people in Winthrop agree with,” said Letterie. “We don’t agree on the costs and sometimes we don’t agree on the location many times, but we agree that there is a need.”

After listening to the voters in 2023, Letterie said the town looked for other locations, narrowing it down to the Walden Street and old middle school sites. About 1,100 people replied to a town-wide survey, with about 55 percent of the respondents preferring the old middle school location, he added.

“I looked at Walden Street, and I think the location is good, the fire chief thought the location was good, and it was a little bit less money,” said Letterie.

In addition, Letterie said he has always looked toward the reuse of the middle school as a potential revenue and development opportunity for the town.

But after the recent meeting on the future of the old middle school, Letterie said he did not see the council coming to any kind of agreement on its use in the near future.

In addition, Letterie said he took into consideration the perceived greater public support for using the middle school site over Walden Street, as well as the potential and ongoing development in Winthrop that is already in the works.

“I’m not looking at what is necessarily the bottomline cheapest way to go, I am looking at being 100 percent honest at which one do we have the best opportunity to get it done,” said Letterie. “We all agree we need a new firehouse, and I think that is the middle school site.”

The council president said he’s spoken to a number of people in town who prefer the middle school location because they are sick and tired of seeing the site underutilized for nine years.

Several councilors said they still prefer the Walden Street site, but were willing to move forward with the old middle school location.

“I think it still has its drawback, but I think the time is now to get this done,” said Council Vice President Hannah Belcher. “We have to think of what has the best chance of passing, we can’t make the firefighters wait any longer.”

Costigan cautioned against giving up on the Walden Street site and the potential loss of revenue from further development of the old middle school.

Letterie also compared the debt exclusion for the new fire station to the override for the schools.

“A fire station is different from an override, where it is a debt exclusion,” said Letterie. “It’s borrowed in spurts, you don’t go out and borrow $35 million or $37 million or $38 million. You are going to borrow as you need it, so the majority of bonding for this would not hit the tax rolls until Fiscal Year ‘27 or ‘28.”

The average cost to a homeowner with a house assessed at the average of $689,000 would see an increase in their tax bill of about $460, Letterie said.

In addition, he said the Miller Field debt exclusion, which is about $148 per year to the average homeowner, will come off the books in FY’31.

“So after the first three years, the net effect for a new firehouse would be roughly $315 per year,” Letterie said.

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