Greenwood OKs tax for police station

Greenwood voters Tuesday approved the creation of a 0.25 percent sales tax to raise money for a new police station.

The complete but unofficial vote total from Tuesday’s election was: For . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213 Against . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .74

The tax will generate the estimated $ 3.2 million Greenwood will need to renovate the old post office building at 250 Old Hackett Road into a police station with 10,000 square feet of space. The measure voters approved calls for bonds to be sold to generate the money for the project and paid off with revenue from the sales tax.

Once the bonds are retired, the tax will expire, officials said.

The City Council was scheduled to meet in a special meeting Wednesday afternoon to authorize an offer on the 5,000-square-foot building for which the owner is asking $350,000. Mayor Del Gabbard would not say before Wednesday’s meeting what he would recommend that the aldermen offer for the building.

Police Chief Will Dawson has said the renovation and expansion of the building and development of the rest of the property will cost about $2.6 million.

Officials like the site, just west of downtown Greenwood, because of its central location.

The 23- member Police Department will be moving out of City Hall where it occupies 1,000 square feet of space. Dawson said the department’s move into City Hall several years ago was supposed to be temporary.

A study revealed the department needed nearly 15,000 square feet of space to operate efficiently, he said.