W.B. Fire District asks voters to approve $800K bond for purchase of property

West Babylon Fire District vot­ers will be asked to approve spend­ing $800,000 for the purchase and renovation of property adjacent to the department's headquarters on Arnold Avenue. The property is at 41A Muncy Road, and will pro­vide

the fire department with the opportunity to plan for the future, according to Fire Commissioner Joe Arcuri. "Right now there is a house there and we always told the own­ers that if they ever wanted to sell to let us know because we would be interested," he said. "They are moving and came to us and we think this would be a good oppor­tunity for the departments and the residents we serve." The purchase price is $700,000, and the additional $100,000 will be used for incidental costs as­sociated

with closing and making some minor improvements to the site according to fire officials. At this point, however, the depart­ment has no formal plans to use the site, but planning for the future is important, they said. "When this district was formed we answered 150 alarms out of two stations during the first year. This year we will respond to more than 3,000 calls out of three stations and sites that hold ambulances and other equipment," said Arcuri. "We have to think about the future because if there is one thing we know, it is that this community is not getting any smaller."

If approved, the district will bor­row the money and pay it back over seven years. The cost of the purchase will be $13.32 a year on a home assessed at $3,700. In the seventh and final year of the pay­ments the cost will go to $14.48. The vote will take place at two locations: For residents living south of Sunrise Highway, the voting is at Fire Headquarters, 126 Arnold Ave., West Babylon. For those living north of Sunrise, the voting is at the firehouse at 1033 Herzel Boulevard, West Babylon. The voting is from 2 to 9 p.m. on Tues., July 15.