TOWN OF POUGHKEEPSIE – The voters in the Fairview Fire District in the Town of Poughkeepsie voted nearly 2 to 1 against a multi-million-dollar bond resolution to renovate the firehouse Tuesday night. As a result, the fire district will remain in violation of several laws that could result in costly litigation.
The district had been seeking voter approval of an $8.8 million bond to reconstruct the 75-year-old firehouse that has become outdated and non-compliant with current building codes and OSHA requirements. The project included an addition that would provide the space required to accommodate the current female professional firefighter and others who follow in her footsteps as a career firefighter.
“This project was scaled down from the original plans and includes nothing more than the minimum requirements to keep us in compliance with the law while allowing the firefighters to respond to calls for service in a rapid fashion,” said one of the professional firefighters in the department. At least $1 million of the planned project was the result of state mandates that require the building to be both earthquake and hurricane-proof, according to newly-elected Commissioner John Anspach, who was elected to a five-year term on Tuesday night.
Voter turnout was exceptionally high for the fire district. Like most fire districts in the region, voter turnout to elect commissioners is historically less than 10 votes, according to one of Tuesday’s poll workers in a neighboring district, and the same is typical of elections in the Fairview Fire District. This year, 120 voters came out to vote against the bond resolution, with only 60 favoring the bond. Anspach ran unopposed and received several votes on Tuesday.
“Emergency response is an expensive business,” said Poughkeepsie Town Councilman Mike Cifone, who lives in the Fairview Fire District, which encompasses 4.5 square miles in the towns of Hyde Park and Poughkeepsie. “Substantial work needs and putting off the inevitable will only cost more in the long run. The number of tax-exempt properties certainly plays a role in the tax-rate calculations and perhaps the state can provide funding to compensate for their facilities that don’t pay fire taxes.”
A few voters told Mid-Hudson News on Tuesday night that mailers from an anonymous source were received this week, telling them to vote no on the bond resolution. “I didn’t know much about this proposal until I got this mailing. I don’t recall getting anything from the fire department that explained what they needed,” he said Maybe they (the FD) will spend time telling us poor taxpayers about the addition in advance of the vote so we know why it has to be done. It’s too late this time.”
The full Mid-Hudson News story about the proposed work can be found here.
