Voters approved Mt. Laurel Fire District №1 bond referendum
Mt. Laurel Fire District №1 will be able to make a series of facility improvements to its three firehouses after voters passed a bond referendum during a special election on July 10.
In the unofficial results released by the district, 70.5 percent of voters were in favor of the proposed $2.95 million bond. As a result, a Mt. Laurel homeowner with the average assessed home of $236,952 will see an annual increase of about $8.60 in their fire district taxes. The amount is based on current interest rates.
Deputy Chief Christopher Burnett said the fire houses were in need of these repairs, and careful planning was done to make sure taxpayers weren’t too negatively impacted. In February, voters passed a budget reducing taxes by $15.94 for the average assessed home. The district was able to save money in certain areas and cut the 2014 budget by about $500,000, resulting in some taxpayer savings. Burnett said this was done with the realization of a bond referendum coming up.
All the bond money is focused on maintaining the district’s three firehouses. More than 35 percent of the money is going toward roof replacement.
“We’re having a number of issues with roof leaks, aging roofs and large ticket items that need to be addressed,” Burnett said.
The district narrowed its list of improvements to the most important items after conducting a full walkthrough of its facilities earlier this year. The district received estimates on each of the projects before going forward with the referendum.
“We compiled a list (of projects),” Burnett said. “It is much larger than what we presented to the public. We scaled down the list. We wanted to make sure we did our due diligence so we can do the best job possible.”
There very few people who went out to vote. Only 431 total ballots were submitted, of them 190 were absentee.
A lack of voters is nothing new to fire district elections. Only 506 votes were cast during the district’s regular election in February.
Burnett said the district did its best to make the public aware of the referendum. Newsletters were sent to all homes on June 23, and a public hearing on the proposal was held the following week.
Burnett said the district has used brochures and open houses to get more people to vote.
“Our job is to get more involved with people in the election process,” he said.
With the referendum passed, sale of the bonds will take place in the coming months, with the projects being listed for bid in November and December. All the work is planned to be performed and completed in 2015.
Full details on the fire district’s maintenance projects can be found at www.mountlaurelfire.com.
