By Rich Pollack
Highland Beach voters will be asked in March to give town leaders permission to spend up to $3 million on two public safety-related projects, should the money be needed.
How much will be required for the projects — a dock for the town’s police boat and rehabilitation of the old fire station — has not been fully determined, but Town Manager Marshall Labadie believes the costs could be above the town’s $900,000 spending cap on each project.
Highland Beach, unlike most surrounding municipalities, has a cap on how much town leaders can spend on a single project without going to a referendum. Voters raised that cap in 2024 from $350,000 to about $900,000.
“I hope we don’t need over $900,000 for each project,” Labadie said. However, he said that having voter approval in March could get the projects moving quickly once the costs are determined.
The town created a marine unit in the spring of 2022 with the purchase of a police boat, but since then the town has been relying on a dock at a condominium complex in the south end of town that is not built to accommodate first responders.
Labadie said that having a dock with a boat lift behind the town’s library that is built specifically for helping first responders would improve their ability to help people in water-related emergencies, making it easier and quicker to get those injured onto land.
The town is estimating the dock could cost $1.6 million to $2 million and is hoping to get a 50% match from the Florida Inland Navigation District. The town already has an estimated cost of the dock in its current budget, Labadie said.
Labadie said the town is also hoping to demolish a part of the old fire station, just north of Town Hall, and upgrade the bay area where the town now keeps a backup rescue unit and a backup fire truck.
Last year the town built a new fire station to replace the longtime station that Labadie said was too old, too small and below the flood plain.
While there were discussions about possibly keeping the entire building, Labadie said that the living quarters section would need too much work. Instead, the town is getting cost estimates for work to fix the bay area and electrical storage areas and replace the roof.
“We’re using the building for storage of $2 million worth of equipment,” he said.
Labadie said the bay area, once improved, could be used for town social activities or ceremonies, with the backup vehicles being pulled up in front of the building.
The proposal to give the town the go-ahead to spend up to $3 million on the two projects is scheduled to come before the voters on March 11.
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