Months after multiple failed municipal budget referendums, Bethel residents will again head to the polls today to vote on three, multimillion dollar town projects.
Voters will be asked to approve more than $20 million in projects, all of which have been in the works for years. On the ballot will be the construction of the Eureka water storage tank, the approval of an energy services agreement and the allocation of $14.1 million for a new police station.
The Bethel Police Station, which held an open house ahead of next weeks referendum on a new police station, on Wednesday night, December 3, 2014, in Bethel, Conn.
$4.3 million energy savings plan
The newest project on the ballot will be the Ameresco Energy Services Agreement. Residents are being asked to approve $4.3 million through a tax-exempt lease purchase to finance an energy agreement with Ameresco Inc. Knickerbocker said the agreement is a zero risk for Bethel with an annual energy savings up to $300,000.
Ameresco helps towns and organizations meet energy savings and management goals with efficient technologies and renewable energy.
Residents will not be responsible for the improvement expenses, because the money saved from the energy costs will pay off the lease, First Selectman Matthew Knickerbocker said. If Bethel does not save as much as planned, Ameresco will fund the remainder of the amount, according to Knickerbocker.
The installed equipment will be owned by the town and no payments will be made on the lease until the project is complete.
The plans for improving energy savings in Bethel schools will help control the district’s finances, especially when they will be able to manage parts of the building that will be heated during the winter.
$14.1 million police station
A rendering of new Bethel Police Station on display during an open house ahead of next weeks referendum on the new police station, in Bethel, Conn, on Wednesday night, December 3, 2014.
After Bethel’s long-delayed effort to build a new police station, residents will decide on Tuesday if the town should construct a $14.1 million new facility at the corner of Judd Avenue and Dodgingtown Road.
A needs assessment prepared in 2004 by the architectural firm Jacunski Humes indicated the existing department building’s 9,262 square feet needed to increase to 25,500 square feet. The current facility is so small that officers interviewing civilians sometimes need to relocate when someone who has been
The police station proposal is the only item on the ballot that will cost taxpayers money, but Knickerbocker said he expects the price to be less than $14 million after receiving competitive contracting bids.
$2.4 million Eureka water tank
After 10 years of planning, a lawsuit and some anger between towns, the Eureka water tank will be built if Bethel residents approve the $2.4 million allocation for construction.
Bethel spent years in a legal battle with Danbury to build the tank in the Long Ridge Road neighborhood, which sits within Danbury’s city limits. Danbury opposed the project because it was not in character with the upscale rural neighborhood.
Danbury eventually reached an out-of-court agreement when Bethel amended the project by placing the tank 200 feet off a proposed access road and hiding it with trees.
Knickerbocker said the town will apply for several grants and loans to build the tank. The remaining cost of the structure will be folded into water rates over several decades.
Bethel needs the water tank for quality, and it will allow the town to pump well water to store and
Residents can vote from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. today at their local voting districts: the Municipal Center, Stony Hill Firehouse and Berry School.