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 analysis that showed local transfer for debt service could have supported borrowing for the station.

County officials responded that the earlier scenarios had counted potential one‑time proceeds — including roughly $2.9 million estimated from sale of properties to be vacated by the fire department — that the board later judged too uncertain to rely on. Staff also said previously scheduled debt payments and the county’s existing debt service obligations limited room to add new loan payments without a larger, consolidated borrowing strategy.

Board members said the intent behind packaging the station within a larger referendum was to take advantage of low-rate general obligation bonds and to address multiple county capital needs together. Several supervisors told the audience they now see, in hindsight, that a narrower approach — raising the real‑estate tax by a smaller fixed amount to build the station first — might have avoided the delay.

Volunteer and fire-rescue leaders urged faster progress. Chief J.D. Climates, identifying himself as chief of Gloucester Volunteer Fire and Rescue, said the building committee was meeting with architects and working on the site plan and asked the board to accelerate permitting where lawful. "We hope to get shovel in the ground by the end of the year," Chief Climates said.

County staff and supervisors said design and site-plan approvals remain the immediate items to complete; staff described site-plan review timelines as the "critical path" (roughly a 30‑day review cycle, multiple rounds of corrections) and said they are working with the fire‑department surveyors and engineers to keep the schedule moving.

Multiple residents and board members noted the project’s rising price tag during the delay. Officials told the town hall that project estimates have increased since 2023; one supervisor noted the project cost had increased several million dollars from earlier estimates. Officials also repeated that the county’s annual debt-service payments on prior borrowings continue to constrain near‑term borrowing capacity.

The board did not take a formal vote at the meeting; members said funding choices and the sequence of projects remain under review. Supervisors asked staff to continue working with the fire‑department building committee on site-plan approvals and to return with financing options and a clearer schedule for when borrowing could be executed.

Looking ahead, the county faces a choice between (a) seeking a smaller, targeted tax increase or loan to build the station first, (b) returning to a bundled referendum to capture lower general‑obligation bond rates but require broader voter buy‑in, or (c) pursuing phased borrowing while preserving contingency for other capital projects. Residents said they want clearer, earlier public explanations of which revenues the county counts as available when the board presents financing plans.

No formal action was taken at the town hall; supervisors told the public the station remains a capital priority and that staff will report back with updated financing timelines and site‑plan status.