Plympton Town Meeting Approves $13.2 Million Fire Station Borrowing, 121 to 43

PLYMPTON -- May 14, 2025, Plympton Town Meeting cleared the two-thirds threshold Wednesday to borrow $13,166,000 for a new fire station, sending the question to Saturday's ballot. The vote was 121 in favor and 43 opposed out of 164 voters present, with the appropriation contingent on passage of a debt-exclusion question at the May 17 annual election. John Wilhelmsen, chair of the Town Properties Committee, told voters the construction cost came in at $11,795,000 through competitive bidding, below the pre-bid estimate, with total project costs of $14,285,000 including design, project management, IT, and furnishings. Fire Chief Cheryl Duddy argued the project goes beyond space needs, citing a 14 percent higher cancer rate among firefighters attributable in part to inadequate separation between apparatus bays and living quarters. Town Accountant Lisa Hart confirmed the debt service would be fixed at roughly $860,000 annually for 30 years, "that amount is fixed, after 30 years it goes away", translating to approximately $468.95 per year for a home assessed at $532,000. Town Meeting also adopted a $15,307,800 FY2026 operating budget, approved a zoning overlay district on a County Road junkyard parcel to maintain MBTA Communities Act compliance, and rejected a proposal to rename the Board of Selectmen the Board of Selectmen.