NORTHBOROUGH – The proposed fire station project is projected to have an average annual tax impact of $344, according to a memo to the Select Board for its July 15 meeting.
The Select Board also voted to hold a special Town Meeting for the project on Oct. 7 and to place the ballot question on the ballot for the Nov. 5 election.
Northborough Fire Station project explained
According to Fire Chief David Parenti, once the project’s architect and owner’s project manager were brought on, they took a deep dive into programmatic needs of the department for the next 40 to 50 years, which resulted in some changes to the design of the building. A full survey of the site was also completed; this hadn’t been done during the feasibility study phase.
As a result, the Fire Station Building Committee is proposing a 30,000-square-foot fire station at 61-65 West Main St. The first floor would be about 21,500 gross square feet and house a training room, administrative space, the apparatus bay and other operation spaces. The second floor is about 9,350 gross square feet and is almost entirely living quarters for the department. In the front of the building, there would be a training and hose tower.
Plans for the station were approved by the Planning Board in June.
The project still needs to go before the Appropriations Committee and Financial Planning Committee. According to Amy Dunlap, of HKT Architects, they are currently working on the construction documents. Another cost estimate will be completed prior to Town Meeting.
If the project is approved at both Town Meeting and the ballot box, the project will go out to bid.
Financing
In 2019, Town Meeting approved an article for the land acquisition and design phase for $3.5 million. The remaining range of the total project cost is estimated between $40.8 to $43.4 million.
Finance Director/Town Accountant Jason Little prepared a memo for the Select Board meeting outlining the financing plan and the projected tax impact over 30 years. Thirty years is the maximum life period over which the town could borrow for the project.
For the financing, Little modeled a total new debt authorization of $42,219,900. He used a long-term interest rate of 4.25% per projections from the town’s financial advisor Hilltop Security, and the projections assume $1.9 million to come from grants. With the 4.25% interest over 30 years, the total project is estimated to cost $70,032,261.
The estimated average annual tax impact is $344.
At its highest in the first impacted year of fiscal 2026, the project is estimated to generate a tax increase of $472. The estimated tax increase is projected to decrease over the 30 years with the lowest at fiscal 2055 at an annual impact of $216.
‘All we have asked for is a safe and healthy work environment’
Select Board members posed numerous questions during the meeting. Member Lisa Maselli asked questions about the parcel, water table and retaining wall, among others.
“It’s part of our fiduciary responsibility to look at value and long-term maintenance costs as well as tax assessments for one of our very important departments. I hope my questions are not misconstrued as non-support for the firemen and the staff because I’m very much a supporter of all the departments, and every department should be in a good situation. And we are not,” said Maselli.
She referenced not only the fire station, but also the police station and Town Hall. She said the town had to look at “everybody.”
“Letting stations deteriorate and putting them in unhealthy working conditions — it’s unconscionable and should never have been allowed to happen,” she said. “When the needs surpass wants, we do have to work within the budget, though, of what the taxpayer has previously agreed to.”
The project deserves detailed scrutiny, she said.
Residents advocated for the Select Board to place the project on the ballot and before Town Meeting.
“All we have asked for is a safe and healthy work environment. That is it. We have not asked for extra bells and whistles. We have not asked for extra rooms. We have not asked for more space than we really need,” said Captain and union president Pat McManus.
Since he has been with the department for 23 years, he knows of six firefighters who have been diagnosed with occupational cancer. McManus said for the past several years, if it rained, the members had to clear their desks and lay down towels because they would get saturated due to a leak. Over a five-year period, firefighters would come down in the middle of the night to go on a call and realize they would have to mop up raw sewage when they returned due to a broken sewer pipe under the apparatus floor.
“I have a chronic cough that I’ve had for four years that I guarantee comes from the air quality of that building,” McManus said.
The proposed station works for the firefighters, and the current station doesn’t work, he said.
The intersection of Pierce and Church streets and Route 20 is the “most dangerous” and “worst” intersection that the department deals with daily, he said.
“The proposed site is absolutely the safest spot for us when it comes to traffic,” said McManus.
For more information on the project, visit https://www.town.northborough.ma.us/fire-rescue-emergency-management/pages/northborough-fire-station-project.
