Edgartown voters will consider $2.8 million in funding at a special town meeting next week, with a majority of that money sought to fill a funding gap for the new fire station project. 

The meeting, the first special town meeting in eight years, will be held at the Old Whaling Church at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, with moderator Steve Ewing presiding. The warrant is 14 articles.

The select board voted on Monday to lower the quorum from 5 per cent of registered voters, which is currently 218 people, to 40 people out of concern that the holidays would affect attendance. It is the first time the quorum has been lowered since 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic. 

The biggest article on the warrant considers $2.5 million in additional funding for the fire station, which is facing a shortfall after bids for the project came in higher than anticipated. Fire officials have attributed the increase to rising construction costs.

The lack of funding has put a halt to construction, which was scheduled to start in late September with the demolition of the existing station.

Edgartown voters already allocated $21.5 million for the new station at the annual town meeting in 2023 and the fire department started planning the project in 2018.

Fire Chief Alex Schaeffer said the existing station, built in 1966, lacks space for modern code-compliant fire trucks. Plans for the new station are almost double the size of the current building.

Chief Schaeffer said it would be difficult to go back and redesign the new station to fit within the existing funding, and the design committee already scaled it down by eliminating one of the buildings and reducing the size of hallways. 

“We’ve really spent a lot of time trying to make sure that the intent of the station to be able to provide services for the town is maintained in the most responsible manner possible,” Mr. Schaeffer said. 

Mr. Schaeffer said a manager at Dellbrook, the company contracted for construction, told him costs could grow as much as 25 to 30 per cent if voters don’t approve the funds or a quorum isn’t reached

“The longer we wait, the more expensive it becomes,” he said. 

A temporary tent designed to house fire trucks during construction is installed in the field adjacent to the existing station. Mr. Schaeffer said the department doesn’t have the financial ability to run both the temporary tent and the existing station simultaneously.

The Edgartown fire department is currently facing a shortage of volunteers that has many starting to think about the need for regionalization. Mr. Schaeffer said if regionalization were to occur, the Island would still need local fire stations for coverage.

The fire station project article money, as well as the other funding requests, are all allocated to come from the town’s free cash, meaning there will be no change to the town’s tax rate. The town’s current free cash account sits at $11.9 million, according to Edgartown town administrator James Hagerty. 

“We’re at a very good position,” Mr. Hagerty said. “That’s why our bond rating is AAA.”

Other articles ask for about $47,000 for an upgrade to security at the police station, $65,000 for repairs to the town’s clarifier tanks and $25,000 for the replacement of the water department’s meter reading equipment. 

Money is also being asked to pay for repairs to a harbor master boat, and site work for the Edgartown School playground.

Article seven asks voters to amend language from an annual town meeting article that would allow the town to remodel the existing animal control office, instead of building a new one. 

Article four requests voters to expand the use of a parcel on Meshacket Road by the Edgartown landfill to move forward with a project to install solar panels. The solar project has been in the works for several years and could bring in millions of revenue.

The select board entered contract negotiations in 2022 with Ameresco, a renewable energy company in Framingham.

Edgartown hasn’t held a special town meeting since 2017 when the town unanimously approved putting out requests for development for the Meshacket Commons affordable housing project and a year-long moratorium on marijuana establishments.

Edgartown select board member Art Smadbeck said special town meetings used to be more frequent and helped the town clean up expenses midway through the year. Over time quorum became more and more difficult to reach in the off season.

“People would literally leave the town meeting and bring people back so we’d have a quorum,” Mr. Smadbeck said. 

Though the reason for the meeting this time around is due largely to fire station costs rising, Mr. Smadbeck said the town budget is as much of a discussion now as it was when he first joined the board in 1994. He said Edgartown’s debt is sitting at around $27 million and is likely to increase in the coming years.

“We are going to be facing more borrowing because of the various projects that are around,” Mr. Smadbeck said. 

He mentioned the approaching high school project as one of the largest factors. During a budget meeting last month Mr. Hagerty said Edgartown’s share for the regionalized campus is sitting around $78 million, 30 per cent of the total cost.

At the meeting the town also approved the fiscal year 2026 tax rate, which is $2.48 and is a $0.17 decrease from last year. The town plans to explore enacting a tax rate residential exemption for fiscal year 2028.

The town maintains that Tuesday’s special town meeting will only last an hour and Mr. Ewing said showing up is a way to get one’s voice heard. 

“Show up for sure,” Mr. Ewing said. “It’s a privilege to be able to get to vote on the affairs of your town.”