Abigail Hasebroock
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
(TNS)
Voters in Highland Beach will consider whether town officials should spend $3.5 million for two public safety projects on the March 11 election.
If a majority of Highland Beach residents vote ‘yes’ on the ballot question, they shouldn’t experience a tax increase as the $3.5 million is budgeted funds.
The money would go to two projects:
— Creating a police and fire rescue marine unit docking facility at Highland Beach Town Hall.
— Rehabilitating the town’s fire station and apparatus bays, which would include structural updates, enhancing equipment and securing storage for fire rescue vehicles.
From 1994 to April 2024, Highland Beach used fire and emergency response services provided by Delray Beach. But now, the town has moved to running its own fire rescue operations.
“That old fire station is bad news, and we need a dock,” Marshall Labadie, the town manager, said during a recent public meeting. “We started a marine facility, but we haven’t finished it, which is a facility to dock. Now we have the obligation with fire to do rescue, so we need to be able to save people in the water.”
Town Commissioner Evalyn David said during the meeting that once the projects are done, particularly the new station, “people will love it because they’ll be able to get in and talk to somebody.”
“If there’s something you should spend your tax money on, most people would agree it’s public safety,” Labadie said. “It’s not like the town manager is asking for an office renovation. That would be a zero vote, right? But this is for public safety with the dock, we have already committed money to a plan, so you don’t want that money to be wasted.”
The March 11 elections won’t have in-person early voting. The deadline of Feb. 27 already went by for any voter who wanted to request a mail ballot for the upcoming election.
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