Dartmouth Voters Give Police Station Funding Green Light

DARTMOUTH - Voters expressed overwhelming support for a temporary tax increase to help fund the design and construction of a new police station with a 2,347 - 1,128 vote Tuesday. 

The $13.4 million building will be located at the site of the former Gidley School on Tucker Rd.. Officers currently work out of modular units in outside the Russels Mills headquarters, which was closed after Legionnaires Disease was discovered in 2014.

Chief Robert Szala said there was still much more work to be done by the town as a whole, but the toughest part is now behind them.

"Town Meeting still has to appropriate the money for the construction, so we got one more hurdle to go," Szala said. "I anticipate it to be a favorable (vote). I think this is one of the biggest (hurdles) we had to overcome today."

Town Meeting members and other town officials have offered support over the past year, and it will once again come before Town Meeting this June as plans move forward for the police department's new home.