Voters reject $36.8 million in spending
Funding for new public safety facility, new athletic fields gets turned down
BY PETER A. SUTTERS JR. INDEPENDENT WRITER
Town leaders suffered a major set back as voters said "no" to borrowing an estimated $27.5 to build a new public safety complex at 2 Fairgrounds Road to house the police, fire and sheriff's departments.

Turnout was low, with just under 20 percent of registered voters making their way to the polls. 1,023 voted against the project, with only 584 voting for the proposal.

Voters also turned down two other borrowing requests, one for $3.6 million to construct four new athletic fields on Land Bank property at 81 Milestone Road and $5.7 million for a variety of spending request including a new fire truck and improvements to the schools and town owned roads.

Both the lesser spending request failed by closer margins than the public safety complex, with 534 voting for the playing fields and 1,068 against and 757 for the variety of expenditures and 846 against.

Town officials will now have to go back to the drawing board and present tax payers with less a less expensive option to replace the aging facilities now occupied by the Police and Fire Departments.

Town officials had tried to convey the message to voters that now was the time to build the project and putting of off until later would only end up costing more, but the message fell on deaf ears as residents were skittish about paying more in taxes as they saw just about every other cost of living item on the island increase in price, most notably gas, which surged to just below $5 a gallon the morning polls opened.

The defeat of the public safety complex comes after a string of votes paving the way for it to be built, dating back to a 2004 Town Meeting vote to purchase the property at 2 Fairgrounds Road from National Grid in 2004 for $15.5 million, a vote at the 2005 Town Meeting to approve $1.8 million to begin the design phase and feasibility study for the project and a 2006 vote to allow the police station to move out of town.

If approved, the measures would have increased the tax bill on a home worth $1.87 million with a residential exemption by $209 a year. The cost-perthousand would have jumped from $2.67 in fiscal year 2008 to $2.87, as it stands now with the measures being defeated, the rate will be $2.64, according to the Finance Department.

While the town would have had to borrow the entire sum to construct the complex, the cost would have been offset by an already pledged donation of $4 million from Nantucket County Sheriff Richard Bretschneider and the pending sale of the existing fire station property on Pleasant Street, which has been estimated to bring in between $6 million and $7 million. The money would not have been borrowed all at once, but in stages as the project progressed.

The defeat of the playing fields will prevent the town from borrowing another $3.6 million to construct four fields to be built on part of 18 acres off Milestone Road. Two of the fields will be natural turf and two might be artificial. An amendment was added to the article at Town Meeting to form a committee to study the artificial fields after concerns were raised about the safety of materials used in the projects.

The $5.7 million was to be used for projects including the replacement of a fire engine; replacement of the finger pier at the Brant Point Lighthouse; repairs to the Town and 2 Fairgrounds Road buildings; improvements to the teen center; improvements to the public restrooms in 'Sconset and to the public restrooms at the Visitor Services Bureau; a new trash truck, roadway improvement at the intersection of Orange and Union Streets; replacement of equipment, furniture and fixtures at all of the Nantucket Public Schools; replacement of the 20,000 gallon fuel storage tank for the Nantucket Public Schools; building improvements at all Nantucket Public Schools, new playing fields and facilities; a school space needs study and a bike

path on Cliff Road. I