Voters OK $4.2M fire package

Building, equipment to cost average Charlton homeowner $207 a year

The Charlton Fire District’s $4.2 million proposition for a new station and equipment was approved 342 to 203, the district’s building chair Bob Legere said.

Election officials said turnout was heavy for Tuesday’s referendum that authorized the district to borrow up to $3.7 million and draw another $500,000 from its capital reserve fund for the new 9,212-square-foot station.

Located on Charlton Road and Peaceable Street, the new firehouse is expected to cost an estimated $83 per $100,000 assessed value annually for those living in the district. An average homeowner with a house assessed at $250,000 would pay an additional $207 in fire district taxes.

Sean Foran, the fire district’s project manager from Hueberbreuer, said construction of the steel structure is expected to begin in the fall and end in the summer of 2020.

In a feasibility study, Hueberbreuer argued that waiting to build a new station would only increase the cost of the building. The cost would rise $900,480 if the district delayed construction until 2020 or $675,360 if it delayed construction for nine months.

The fire district is expected to bring in $300,016 in taxes in 2019. Fire officials said the station is an “essential facility,” meant to “remain operational in the event of extreme environmental loading from flood, wind, snow or earthquakes.”