Referendum Voters Will Be Asked To OK $5.7M Bond Issue

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By Liz Sheehan
SEA BRIGHT – The Borough Council unanimously approved a resolution at its Aug. 2 meeting that set Tuesday, Sept. 27, from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m., for a special election for a referendum on three bond issues that would provide funds to replace two borough buildings lost in Sandy in 2012 and the existing Borough Hall.
The resolution also set the wording of the interpretive statement that would explain the three questions being voted on, one for each bond issue.
The buildings proposed would contain the borough’s lost firehouse, police department, library and beach facilities as well as replace the current Borough Hall.
The interpretive statement said that total projected costs of the two buildings was $12,726,969 – of which $5,761,750 is the maximum to be bonded.
The statement said that it was necessary for both bond ordinances 15-2016 and 17-2016 to pass to fund the building called the Community Center/Beach utility structure.
Ordinance 17-2016 provides for construction of the beach facility while ordinance 15-2016 deals with the construction of the community center/library building.
This building is described as a single 8,609 square-foot structure that would serve both as the library and beach facilities. It would add new storage space for police, fire and public works equipment with a second level that would contain a place for Borough Council, Planning Board and other town meetings as well as rentals by the public with an oceanfront deck included in the building, the statement said.
“The borrowing for ordinance 15-2016 is anticipated to be fully repaid from taxes and the borrowing for ordinance 17-2016 is anticipated to be fully repaid by revenues of the Beach Utility from beach user fees,” the statement said.
It described the building funded by ordinance 16-2016 as a 14,187 square-foot-structure that would replace the firehouse, and police and first aid building destroyed by Sandy that would also have an extra bay for storing equipment and space to relocate “borough administrative functions and records storage.” The borrowing for ordinance 16-2016 is to be repaid from taxes, according to the statement.
A chart contained in the statement shows the projected cost of the library /beach facility to be $4,875,248 with the maximum amount to be bonded as $332,500 for the library and $1,486,750 for the beach facility. Insurance payments for the building are listed as $150,000 for the library and $185,000 for the beach facility, while the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) funds the town receives will be $900,000 for the library and $1,450,000 for the beach portion of the building. Another $400,000 will go towards the beach facility from a settlement in a lawsuit concerning beach access the borough has received.
According to the table, the maximum expected to be bonded for the municipal complex is $3,942,500, with $1,000,000 provided by insurance and $2,750,000 by FEMA.
Although the council vote was unanimous, several residents protested the ordinance and said the projects could be achieved through less costly replacements of the buildings and that the costs for the proposal had escalated from when it was first proposed.
Jean Kingman said that when “we started out the costs were much less.” Councilmen John Lamia, Jr., and Jack Keeler have also said they believed the project costs are too high.
The referendum on the bonds was required when a petition contained sufficient voter signatures requesting it. The number required was 15 percent of the last election in which members of the State Assembly were on the ballot. According to Borough Clerk Christina Pfeiffer that number was 47 and 69 qualified residents signed the petition.
At a prior meeting, councilman Brian Kelly said with revenues from the new metered parking system in the town and the cell tower and insurance payments, the bonds should result in an increase of two cents per hundred dollars of assessed value to borough taxpayers.
A public town meeting on the referendum will be held at 7 p.m., Tuesday Aug. 23. Drop-in information sessions on Saturday, Aug. 27, from 10 a.m. to noon and on Sept. 7 from 4 to 7 p.m. at the Borough Hall, where questions about the bonds can be answered by council members and borough staff.