This Town Meeting Day, citizens of Swanton Village, a small municipality of about 2,300 people tucked within Swanton Town (total pop. 6,700), will vote on bonding for a new project. The proposal? A brand new public safety facility that is estimated to cost $14.8 million.
If approved, paying off the bond would at most add approximately $450,000 per year for 30 years to the village’s operating expenses, according to village officials. However, some of the cost to village property tax payers could be offset by new or expanded contracts for policing with the town of Swanton and other neighboring towns.
The plans call for a 22,000 square feet building that would provide a new home for the Village’s fire and police departments, which currently operate out of what local officials say are inadequate buildings.
“For the fire department end, we currently are in a building that is an outstanding garage, but it’s not a modern-day firefighting facility,” Bill Sheets, Swanton Village’s manager said.
As for the police department, it is currently housed in a 48-year-old 600-square-foot facility that, according to Sheets, “would not meet one single standard for accreditation.” Sheets was a 30-year member of the Vermont State Police force before retiring in 2017. He was hired for the manager’s post in 2022.
Due to the lack of space, the capacity of the Swanton Village police, consisting of eight full-time and six part-time police officers, suffers from a maxed-out storage room for evidence and no holding cells, Matthew Sullivan, Swanton Village’s police chief said.
“If we have somebody in custody, we need to chain them to a wall,” Sullivan explained. On top of that, when they have someone in custody, they are forced to close their doors to the general public.
“We essentially have to shut down the police department when (we) have somebody in custody, because we want to try to provide privacy for that individual and protect their dignity, so we’ll close the door and now nobody has access to the police department,” Sullivan said.
While operating in the less-than-ideal facility, Swanton Village’s annual report shows that crime is up compared to 2022.
“Swanton Village Police handled a total call volume of 2,759 incidents in 2023, an increase of approximately 17% from 2,352 in 2022 and down approximately 4% from 2,884 in 2021,” the report reads.
According to Sheets and Sullivan, their facility is not equipped to handle the current demand for services, further prompting the necessity of a new one. The land where the new building would be constructed was purchased in the winter of 2023.
“It comes with a need to have a vision for the future. It’s something that I think can take care of our immediate needs, but our 50-year needs as well,” Sheets said.
Village leaders hope that future includes continued support from Swanton Town, which now contracts with the village’s police force for part-time law enforcement.
This year, town residents will consider whether to approve a new 70-hour contract. The additional revenue from the increased coverage would help offset the cost of new construction for village residents. (Residents of Swanton Village are also residents of the Town of Swanton, and will be able to cast a vote on both items.)
“The selectboard definitely understands that the present police facility that the village has is totally inadequate,” Earl Fournier, chair of Swanton Town’s select board said. “But we got to find a way to make it affordable.”
According to Fournier, people in the town are nervous about the plan, especially in light of the recent tumult regarding rising school budgets.
Much of rural Vermont, including Swanton Town, relies on Vermont State Police if there are no local police forces available. However, even state police are spread thin.
“It might be viable for communities to get together and be part of a public safety district,” Fournier said. According to him, the costs for one community to do this on its own would be “unbearable”’ “It would be more than a lot of people can afford,” he said.
Sheets too, would love to see several communities sharing the cost and thus easing the tax burden on village residents. He described the proposal as a “vision without certainty.”
According to Sheets, the village bonding for the full $14.8 million would be the worst-case scenario. His hope is that the village will be able to bring in additional revenue for the project, for instance, in the form of low-interest loans and grants.
Although Swanton Village takes the lead when it comes to pricy public safety proposals, all across Vermont, citizens will vote on million-dollar bonds related to public safety, including proposals for new ambulances, fire trucks and a new public safety tax.
Shelburne, Morristown, and Waterbury are all proposing bonds for new fire trucks of varying capacity and costs running from $380,000 in Waterbury to $1 million in Shelburne.
In Hartford, a $1.3 million bond is proposed to improve the fire station in the village of Quechee.
