The City of Burlington approved a $2.4 Million bond issue during a Monday night City Council meeting–but Mayor Shane McCampbell voted against the measure.
McCampbell took issue with one section of the bond issue: $700,000 for renovations at the City’s Police Department building downtown. City Manager Jim Ferneau called the $700,000 a stop-gap measure to keep the older building up to code, but says that eventually, a more permanent solution to the problem–a new police station, or a large-scale renovation–will need to be addressed, probably to the tune of around $6 million. The $700,000 in renovations will keep the building usable for 5-10 more years. McCampbell says he would rather just find a permanent solution now.
“What I’m getting from citizens is that that’s money we’re spending on a rehab for a building we don’t plan on keeping as the police department.” McCampbell said, “I’m stuggling with spending that kind of money. If we’re thinking about spending that kind of money, why not just go all the way and try to find something permanent?”
Ferneau says that spending the kind of money necessary to find a permanent solution isn’t teneble, given the city’s current fiscal situation.
“Not only is the borrowing capacity the issue with something like that, but to do it with a [General Obligation] bond is a voter-approved asking, with a 60% approval neccessary,” Ferneau said, “So that’s part of the concern.”
The measure still passed 4-1, but not without serious consideration from the other council members. Mayor Pro-Tem Becky Anderson says that the city can’t give in to the desire to spend.
“I would like to see a new police station, but we need to get our debt under control,” Anderson said, “If we give into [spending], there is always going to be something else we’re going to give into. We’ve made a decision to pay down our debts, we need to stick with that right now.”
Councilman Jim Davidson says that the council has to get serious about finding a long-term solution to the problem.
“I only agree to vote for this if we aggressively pursue a plan so that five years from now we have something on hand and in hand to show what we’re going to do,” Davidson said, “I don’t want to come back in five years and have to do another million-dollar renovation to the same building.”
The rest of the $1.7 million will be used for several road resurfacing projects and the purchase of a new fire truck.
