The town of Livermore Falls is holding a town meeting Tuesday, Oct. 18, at which time its citizens will be asked to vote on borrowing the funds necessary to build a new fire station.

The warrant article is asking the town, and its taxpayers, to spend up to $2.2 million to build the new station. The previous fire station vote was to spend $1.5 million but no interest charges were included, hence the need for a do-over.

As residents think about their vote, many may not know that the town already owes approximately $1.8 million for current borrowing for the Sewer and Public Works departments. If the fire station warrant is passed, that means the town of Livermore Falls would be more than doubling its debt load.

There is an alternative.

The town’s engineering firm, Lincoln/Haney, has given a figure of approximately $450,000 to do proper and long-lasting repairs to the existing building. That was voted on at the last meeting and defeated. But doing the repairs would not only be significantly less costly, it also requires a substantially shortened time frame to accomplish. That option is again available if the current article fails.

I encourage all residents to attend. The last time, one percent of the residents voted to spend a lot of money that 100 percent of them will have to pay back.

Scott Roberts, East Livermore