Citizens in the village of Manlius have voted by a small margin to approve a $10.8 million bond resolution to construct a new fire station on the corner of Enders Road and Route 92 in the town of Manlius. The official vote for the March 18 election was 266 to 243.
“I expected it to be close,” Mayor Paul Whorrall said. “I’d like to thank the citizens for coming out and exercising their right to vote … I’d also like to thank the firefighters who have spent the last few weeks putting in so much time and effort to get the word out and inform residents.”
The increase in taxes to residents living within the Manlius fire protection district, which includes residents in the village of Manlius and parts of the towns of Pompey and Manlius, will be between $.32 per $1,000 assessed value and $.48 per $1,000 assessed value over 30 years.
It will replace the current two stations, located on Stickely Drive and Pompey Hill Road, which were in need of many major renovations to meet current federal and state regulations.
“I’m relieved,” Manlus Fire Chief John Buskey said. “We’re excited because it’s going to allow us to do what we need to be able to do … I’m very proud of the firefighters for all of the work they did canvassing and answering questions about this project.”
The village can now begin the final designs for the project, can purchase the land it is to be developed on and will begin the bidding process, said Whorrall. If all goes as planned, Whorrall said the village hopes to begin construction by spring 2016.
According to the village Fire Facilities Committee, if the project had been rejected by voters, the land would have been lost and the cost of renovations would have been somewhere between $8.7 million and $9.5 million. This option would reflect a tax rate of $.63 per $1,000 assessed value over 15 years.
Results from trustee race:
Another matter that was voted on during this March 18 election were two trustee positions on the village board. Nancy Pfeiffer, an incumbent of the board for four years, and Scott McGrew, an incumbent for eight years, won their reelection.
“We’re glad to have another four years to serve as village trustees,” Pfeiffer said.
The unofficial results were 363 for Pfeiffer, 336 for McGrew and 78 write-ins. Both candidates were running unopposed.
McGrew said he was impressed with the voter turnout of about 500 considering it was not a year with a mayoral election.
Hayleigh Gowans is a reporter for the Eagle Bulletin. She can be reached at [email protected].
