Swampscott Select Board Sets FY2015 Tax Rates, Debates Ambulance Station Deal

SWAMPSCOTT — December 15, 2014 — Swampscott Select Board approves FY2015 property tax rates and debates ambulance lease at old police station. The board unanimously adopted Board of Assessors recommendations setting a residential rate of $17.15 per thousand and a commercial rate of $31.73 per thousand for fiscal year 2015, with members noting that residential owners carry more than 93 percent of the total levy. A Board of Health waste program update reported the town cut annual trash tonnage from roughly 5,000 to under 4,000 tons since 2011, saving an estimated $121,000 per year at current disposal costs of $88 per ton. The board also heard a lengthy dispute over a residential subdivision in which members said a newly built home on Lot 13 did not match original design sketches shown to roughly 300 residents — "it didn't look like this," one member said — with the developer's representative arguing no contractual height restriction had been included in the land development agreement. A proposed six-month license for an ambulance company to occupy the former police station on Paradise Road drew sharp pushback from at least one member, who argued competing providers had not been offered the same facility as part of the original bid process.