AUGUSTA — Proposals that go to voters Nov. 4 to borrow more than $8.1 million would pay for a fire station in north Augusta and a new firetruck without forcing a tax increase, officials said.

Bonds would provide $3.6 million to build a fire station on city-owned land near the intersection of Anthony Avenue and Leighton Road to serve the burgeoning north Augusta area, and $1 million to buy a new multipurpose firetruck to replace the city’s 20-year-old ladder truck.

The bonds would be paid back with money collected from commercial development in the area that would be served by the new station. The funds would be repaid with money to be collected in multiple city tax increment financing accounts. Most of those sheltered funds came from new revenue from commercial development in the area, such as the Marketplace at Augusta, the Central Maine Commerce Center, and expansions at J.S. McCarthy and NRF Distributors. State rules allow the city to retain a portion of tax revenue generated from new development in designated districts, and to spend that money on qualified projects.

That should allow the city, according to Ralph St. Pierre, finance director and assistant city manager, to pay back the borrowed money with tax increment funds rather than by increasing the property tax rate.

“As long as the stores don’t go away, there’s enough money to pay for it,” St. Pierre said.

Fire Chief Roger Audette said the new station is needed both to improve response times to the increasing number of emergency calls in north Augusta and to address the age and inadequacy of the city’s existing fire stations, especially the headquarters at historic Hartford Station, built in 1920.

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In the last four years, he said, the number of calls in north Augusta has increased 61 percent. So far this year, there have been 780 calls for firefighters, ambulances or both in north Augusta. Audette said over the same part of the year in 2011, there were 480 such calls.

“Operationally, our goal is to be on scene within three to five minutes for fire and emergency medical service calls,” Audette said. “We currently don’t meet that standard in north Augusta.”

He said response times to that part of the city now are around seven to eight minutes.

Audette said the proposed new multipurpose “quint” firetruck, which would replace the ladder truck, would be located at the new station.

The city’s current ladder truck is kept at the Western Avenue fire station because it is too heavy for the floor of Hartford Station, which has a basement under it and was built to accommodate much smaller fire apparatus than today’s equipment. He said when the new station is built, the Western Avenue station probably would be closed.

Audette said the firetrucks that fit in Hartford do so just barely, with some having only an inch to spare on each side as they pass through the station doors. He said Hartford could be the oldest fire department headquarters of any city in Maine.

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The city’s stations on Bangor Street and Western Avenue were built in the 1960s.

“So it has been almost 50 years since we built anything or made any extensive renovations to any fire stations,” Audette said. “Since then, firetrucks and apparatus changed a lot. Trucks are bigger, wider, longer and heavier. We have storage space and training space issues at every fire station. Fifty years ago we didn’t even do EMS work, and now we have five ambulances doing 5,000 EMS calls a year. That in itself has created challenges when it comes to space. Our facilities have hampered our operations for the last 30 years or so, so it’s time.”

A 2008 consultant’s report, done before MaineGeneral Health’s new hospital was built in north Augusta, recommended a new station be built to serve that area.

The station, if approved by voters, would be built on the 26-acre former Quimby lot, which the city bought in 1999 for $175,000 in hopes of using it to attract business to the area. City Manager William Bridgeo said the fire station probably would occupy only a couple of acres of the property, leaving the rest available for other uses.

In addition to the Fire Department-related bond question, voters also will be asked to approve borrowing $1.9 million for repairs and energy-efficiency upgrades at the city-owned Augusta Civic Center, and $1.6 million for street and sidewalk improvements, including work on School Street, Townsend Road, Northern Avenue and Bond Brook Road.

Another, even larger bond proposal on the local ballot asks voters if they approve of borrowing $21 million. However, St. Pierre noted the proposal would simply refinance existing debt to take advantage of a lower interest rate. He said the refinancing would save a total of about $1 million over the life of the bonds, with the state receiving about 85 percent of the savings, and the city the rest.

Keith Edwards — 621-5647

kedwards@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @kedwardskj


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