Gloucester supervisors debate financing and timeline for volunteer fire station after failed referendum

Gloucester County supervisors, staff and volunteer leaders used a town-hall session to revisit a failed 2023 referendum and the status of a planned Gloucester Volunteer Fire and Rescue station, discussing rising costs, potential funding sources and a timetable for construction.

The discussion matters because delay has increased the project price and supervisors said the county must choose whether to pursue individual loans, a smaller tax increase or revive a broader bond package to cover the station and other capital needs.

Residents pressed the board about earlier statements that the county “had the money” to build the station without a tax increase. Several supervisors and staff said the referendum decision, changes in assumed revenue and removing a potential one‑time sale of fire-department assets from the county’s revenue estimates altered the county’s borrowing capacity. Citizen Teresa Altimus, who reviewed Davenport financial scenarios presented to the board in 2023, asked why the board had not acted on an…