Fire officials to meet public ahead of vote on $4.5M bond proposals
Taxpayers in the Copiague Fire District will vote on July 12 on two propositions seeking approval for $4.5 million in bonding. Credit: Barry Sloan
The Copiague Fire District is holding an informational meeting Wednesday night on an upcoming public vote to approve $4.5 million in bonding.
The district has two propositions it will bring before voters next week. The first is a request to bond for $2 million to replace two firefighting vehicles, a 1997 tower ladder truck and a 1988 high water rescue truck, as well as a 2013 ambulance. The second proposition is asking to bond for $2.5 million to build storage and training facilities adjacent to firehouse property at 25 Parkside Ct.
Commissioner Julian Wellington wrote in an email that their vehicles have “passed their individual life cycles” and the district felt that “before excessive repairs and out of service timelines are utilized, it is better to sell with value left.”
Wellington, who is chairman of the district’s board of commissioners, said the storage facility is needed “due to overcrowding” in the firehouses, and the training facility will be “a non-burn maze type, which is necessary to train firefighters, especially in areas where homes are altered.”
Wellington said the bonding will result in “no increase to the taxpayers of Copiague.” He said the district will use $500,000 from a reserve fund and that the remaining bond payment will come from savings from the end of a truck leasing agreement and from Babylon Central Fire and Rescue Alarm coming off the tax rolls. Residents still pay that tax for the town’s 911 emergency dispatch service, which this year is $25.15 on the average home, but it has moved to Babylon’s tax bill since the town took over the service from a corporation this year.
The meeting is at 7:30 p.m. at fire district headquarters at 320 Great Neck Rd., Copiague. The vote is July 12 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the same location.
Denise Bonilla has worked at Newsday since 2003 and covers the Town of Babylon, including the villages of Lindenhurst and Amityville.
