Voters On Fire House Spending: 'Not So Fast'

In March, . By May, when it was time to say yes to the funding measure, .

“To me the message was received and understood: We need a new fire station, but please fund it within our limits- no debt exclusion,” said Selectman George Barrette, who worked on the Municipal Building Committee to draft the fire station project article.

If the were any indication, that was precisely the message.

“No one is against a new fire station. However, that will happen whether the debt exclusion passes or not,” wrote Stephen Faris.

“No more credit card debt. Let's pay for it within the budget,” said Bob.

“I support addressing the fire station, and not an override. We need to live within our means,” posted .

In all, nearly 300 comments related to the debt exclusion vote were posted on Westborough Patch over the past week and on several articles, many from Town Manager Jim Malloy who took time to answer reader questions — especially the concern that the debt exclusion measure would raise taxes.

Malloy explained that the initiative would not raise taxes for homeowners because it would be implemented to coincide with the payoff of previous debt.

“When I started here our overall general fund debt was around 15 percent of our operating budget. The selectmen adopted a set of comprehensive fiscal management policies last year that sets a goal of maintaining a debt burden of no more than 10 percent of our operating budget. We will hit that goal in FY13 (the budget Town Meeting approved in March) and with our retiring debt (debt that is being paid off), we'll be substantially below the 10 percent mark even with the fire station debt,” he wrote.

Even so, voters did not approve. With 14 percent voter turnout, 1,587 went to the polls and defeated the debt exclusion 912-672.

Because the March approval for the project was contingent on the debt exclusion funding, it is voided and officials must start over in presenting the idea to fund a new fire station.

“The vote today was unfortunate as the fire station remains the Town's most pressing capital need,” Malloy told Westborough Patch on Tuesday.  

The ballot question read as follows: Shall the town of Westborough be allowed to exempt from the provisions of Proposition 2 1/2, so called, the amounts required to pay for the bonds to be issued in order to construct a new fire station?

The vote results:

PCT 1

PCT 2

PCT 3

PCT 4

PCT 5

TOTAL

YES

101

73

149

206

143

672

NO

87

99

203

267

256

912

BLANKS

0

0

3

0

0

3

TOTAL

188

172

355

473

399

1587

“I'm sure the Municipal Building Committee will be meeting in the next several days to discuss further, but that it's very likely this will be back before the voters at the Fall Town Meeting,” said Malloy.

Barrette agreed, “ I look forward to working with the Board of Selectmen and the Municipal Building Committee to bring this project to the Fall Town Meeting. “

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