The ballot question is to fund the purchase of a new pumper truck.
Hampden Selectmen Chairman John D. FlynnHAMPDEN – A proposed $360,000 debt exclusion override question is on the May 1 town election ballot.
The question, which is being proposed by the Board of Selectmen, is for the purchase of a new Fire Department pumper truck.
Selectmen Chairman John D. Flynn said the proposed purchase of a new Fire Department pumper truck must first win the approval of voters at Monday’s annual town meeting.
The new pumper truck is needed to replace a 1975 Maxim and an old tanker.
Flynn said the Maxim carries a driver and passenger and has running boards on the back to carry the other firefighters. It is no longer permitted under today’s standards to carry firefighters who are not belted into a seat, Flynn said.
Voters will be asked to authorize borrowing of the full $360,000, but $150,000 to $200,000 may be taken from the town’s stabilization, or savings, account, with the remainder to be bonded, Flynn said.
The town has more than $1 million in the stabilization account, he said.
Another annual $36,000 bond for a Fire Department vehicle is about to be paid off, Flynn said.
“We are talking about replacing one payment with another,” he said.
The town has a habit of disapproving Proposition 2½ override questions to increase revenues to fund the town operating budget, but has approved debt exclusion override questions for equipment and new schools.
The difference between a Proposition 2½ override question and a debt exclusion override is that a debt exclusion override is approved only for the life of the bond, Flynn said.
The town’s Advisory Committee will meet Thursday night at 6 at the Hampden Town House to finalize its recommendations for Monday’s annual Town Meeting.
Besides the debt exclusion override question, the only other contest on the May 1 Hampden town election ballot is for Park Commission. Three candidates are running for two, three-year positions. They are incumbent Michael Cronin, the Democratic caucus nominee, Frederick P. Frangie, an unaffiliated candidate who is president of the Recreation Association of Hampden, and Timothy James Shannon, the Republican caucus nominee.
