LIVERMORE FALLS — By a 16-3 vote at Tuesday’s special town meeting, voters approved $70,000 in contingency funds to be used for fire station repairs.

At a special town meeting Nov. 15, voters had given the go-ahead to use the money. However, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which is funding the project through a loan, forwarded the article to the town’s attorneys to make small changes in the wording, Interim Town Manager Stephen J. Gould said.

Resident Ron Chadwick noted that the town had originally voted to authorize $650,000 in bonds for the project at 2.75 percent interest. He suggested that the interest should have been included as part of the article’s wording.

“That’s an outstanding debt already, and we’re asking for $70,000 in contingency,” Chadwick said.

“We’re not looking at borrowing the whole $70,000, anyway,” Gould pointed out.

Fire Chief Edward Hastings IV noted that so far, contractor H.E. Callahan has had to make changes in the project pushing the cost to about $690,000, or $40,000 more than the originally authorized bond funds.

The items responsible for the additional costs include an oil/water separator, more reinforcement for the back wall of the fire station and replacing electrical panels.

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